Examining a Model of the Relation Between Religiosity and Suicidal Ideation in a Sample of African American and White College Students

In this study, a model of certain aspects of religiosity, social support, and depressive symptomatology that would examine how African Americans may be, differentially, protected from suicide was proposed. Intrinsic religiosity was found to be negatively related to depressive symptoms which were positively related to suicide ideation in a sample of 459 college students. Though the model was expected to produce more robust results for African American compared to White students, we did not find this. Further investigation of religiosity and related phenomena (e.g., spirituality) are warranted across age, socioeconomic, and ethnic groups.