Sense of Connection May Be Key

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Research from the University of Arkansas suggests the need to re-think the role of religion in preventing suicide behaviors among African American adolescents.

In a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Kevin M. Fitzpatrick reported unexpected results from a survey of 1,526 African American students in grades 5 to 12. Previously, most research had focused on the suicide behaviors of white adolescents, and little is known about the psychosocial health of African American youth.

“While church has emerged as an important factor, especially for black youth,” Fitzpatrick said, “our results showed that for a population of adolescents engaged in mainstream religion, the perception of belonging to a community of support may be more important than going to church on Sunday.”

The results of the research by Fitzpatrick and co-authors Bettina F. Piko and Elizabeth Miller found risk factors among African American youth that were similar to the risk factors established by earlier studies. That is, females and older students were more likely to think about suicide, and recognized risk factors, such as violence at home or bullying at school, increased the odds students would consider or attempt suicide.

When the researchers looked at protective factors — aspects of a student’s life that lessen suicidal thoughts or attempts — they found that the usual host of factors related to family and school had only limited effect. Given the role of the church in African American communities, they had expected that various dimensions of religion would have a significant effect on adolescents’ suicide behaviors. They learned that a sense of being connected was key.

“The perception of connection appears to buffer the negative effects of risk,” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick pointed to a body of social science research that has established the importance of social support for overall mental health, “especially in the midst of extreme negative experiences.” Moreover, research has shown that the perception of strong social ties is often more important to well-being than actual support.

“What this finding may be suggesting is that the perception of connection to community for adolescents may be equally if not more important than their actually going to church or believing that religion generally, or prayer and other behaviors specifically, make a difference in their lives,” the researchers concluded.

Given the limited knowledge of factors related to suicide for African American youth, the researchers suggested that more research is needed to meet the public health challenge of establishing prevention and intervention programs that are developmentally and culturally effective.

Fitzpatrick is a sociology professor and holder of the Bernice Jones Chair in Community in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas. Piko is a professor with the department of psychiatry at the University of Szeged, Hungary. Miller is a graduate student in sociology at the University of Arkansas. Their paper, “Suicide Ideation and Attempts Among Low-Income African American Adolescents,” is to be presented on Tuesday, Aug. 14, at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.