Trial reportPloS one2021
Religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in China: A cross-sectional study across six provinces.
Trial report in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Which machine learning algorithms are best at predicting eating disorder tendencies among nursing students in China?BMC nursing · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Temporal Sense and Psychopathologies of College Students with Sensory Impairments: Mediation of Religions.Journal of religion and health · 2025Article
- Latent profile analysis and related factors for meaning in life among young and middle-aged cancer patients.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
- Perceived clinical challenges when treating patients from different cultures: A study among psychiatry trainees in Norway.Transcultural psychiatry · 2025Article
- Evaluation of Attitudinal Beliefs Held by Medical and Nursing Students Towards Suicidal Behavior.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2024Article
- Trends in suicide mortality rates in the Republic of Cyprus between 2004 and 2020: changes in age, gender and suicide method.BJPsych open · 2024Article
- Trends of completed suicide rates among Malaysian elderly between 1995 and 2020.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Looking Into Recent Suicide Rates and Trends in Malaysia: A Comparative Analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 8 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSeveral past studies indicated that religious beliefs, orientation, and practice are protective of suicide. Findings from recent studies in China suggest that religiosity may contribute to increased suicidality. However, few studies have examined the associations between religious affiliation across different faiths and suicidality in China.
objectiveThe current study examines the association between religious affiliation and suicidality among college students in six provinces in China.
methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study involving 11,407 college students from six universities in Ningxia, Shandong, Shanghai, Jilin, Qinghai, and Shaanxi. We collected the data between October 2017 and March 2018 using self-report questionnaires. They included self-report measures of depression, psychache, hopelessness, self-esteem, social support, and life purpose.
resultsParticipants with a Christian affiliation had 1.5 times (95% CI: 1.14, 1.99, p = 0.004) higher odds of indicating an elevated suicide risk, 3.1 times (95% CI: 1.90, 5.04, p<0.001) higher odds of indicating a previous suicide attempt, and increased overall suicidality (B = 0.105, p < 0.001) after accounting for demographic and risk/protective factors. Christians also scored the highest in depression, psychache, hopelessness, and the lowest social support, self-esteem, and purpose in life. Muslims reported decreased suicidality (B = -0.034, p = 0.031). Buddhism/Daoism yielded non-significant results in the multivariate analyses.
conclusionsChristian college students reported increased suicidality levels, perhaps due to public policies on religion. The decreased suicidality levels among Muslims may be attributed to higher perceived social support. The associations between religious affiliation and suicidality, depression, and hopelessness contrast sharply with US samples. This finding may be influenced by interactions between the religious denomination, individual, and social/political factors. This conclusion includes the possibility of anti-religious discrimination, which this paper did not investigate as a possible mediator and therefore remains a conjecture worthy of future investigation.
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