> "The latest CDC data show that the U.S. life expectancy has declined over the past few years," said CDC Director Robert Redfield, M.D., in a Nov. 29 statement.(www.cdc.gov) "Tragically, this troubling trend is largely driven by deaths from drug overdose and suicide.“
> A 2016 study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that American women who attended a religious service at least once a week were five times less likely to commit suicide. The findings—based on data from 90,000 women from 1996 to 2010—are consistent with 2019 Pew Research findings that regular participation in religious community is clearly linked to higher levels of happiness. It’s true that correlation doesn’t prove causation, but there’s strong evidence that people who attend church or synagogue regularly are less inclined to take their own lives.
> Marriage rates have declined, particularly among less educated Americans, while divorce rates have risen, leading to increased social isolation, she said. She calculated that in 2005, unmarried middle-aged men were 3.5 times more likely than married men to die from suicide, and their female counterparts were as much as 2.8 times more likely to kill themselves.
Which all makes some sort of sense, right? Life expectancy has been increasing for decades, and the US has lacked universal healthcare this whole time. With ACA, healthcare coverage has never been higher. So it seems hard to chalk declining life expectancies to factors that have only been getting better over time.
Economics is likewise a suspect causal factor. The last time suicide rates were this high was the Great Depression. Unemployment and wage stagnation were worse in the 1970s yet suicide rates were never so high.
>...one thing that gets overlooked is declining religiosity...
I think, maybe, you're mistaking the community that forms around religion (e.g.: churches, friendships, church groups, etc.) for religion, itself.
If the argument were that lack of religion is a precursor to increasing suicide rates, then we in Europe should be killing ourselves off in droves because we're the least religious lot (compared to our North American counterparts).
I’m speaking within an American context. The decline in organized religion in the US has been very rapid (since 1998, really, after decades of stability), and other community constructs have not arisen in their place. For example, living with parents or extended family is much less common in the US than in Italy or Spain (which have particularly low suicide rates).
Likewise, the drop in fertility rate has been steeper in the US. Rates dropped from almost 4 in 1960 to 1.8 today. Sweden dropped from about 2.5 to 1.85.
> and other community constructs have not arisen in their place.
This is really the issue. If the Church had been replaced by some other form of community, that would be one thing, but it has been replaced by nothing.
>I think, maybe, you're mistaking the community that forms around religion (e.g.: churches, friendships, church groups, etc.) for religion, itself.
If countries are having difficulty replacing it is there really a meaningful distinction? Even Europe doesn't have as much atheism or deaths of despair as the US.
> "The latest CDC data show that the U.S. life expectancy has declined over the past few years," said CDC Director Robert Redfield, M.D., in a Nov. 29 statement.(www.cdc.gov) "Tragically, this troubling trend is largely driven by deaths from drug overdose and suicide.“
Of the various things that have been discussed as causes, one thing that gets overlooked is declining religiosity: https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-god-the-answer-to-the-suicid...
> A 2016 study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that American women who attended a religious service at least once a week were five times less likely to commit suicide. The findings—based on data from 90,000 women from 1996 to 2010—are consistent with 2019 Pew Research findings that regular participation in religious community is clearly linked to higher levels of happiness. It’s true that correlation doesn’t prove causation, but there’s strong evidence that people who attend church or synagogue regularly are less inclined to take their own lives.
Decreasing marriage and fertility rates are another potential cause, especially given that suicide rates have increased fastest among women: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/...
https://www.thecut.com/2016/04/the-suicide-statistics-releas...
> Marriage rates have declined, particularly among less educated Americans, while divorce rates have risen, leading to increased social isolation, she said. She calculated that in 2005, unmarried middle-aged men were 3.5 times more likely than married men to die from suicide, and their female counterparts were as much as 2.8 times more likely to kill themselves.
Which all makes some sort of sense, right? Life expectancy has been increasing for decades, and the US has lacked universal healthcare this whole time. With ACA, healthcare coverage has never been higher. So it seems hard to chalk declining life expectancies to factors that have only been getting better over time.
Economics is likewise a suspect causal factor. The last time suicide rates were this high was the Great Depression. Unemployment and wage stagnation were worse in the 1970s yet suicide rates were never so high.