The Effect of the Decline in Institutionalized Religion on Suicide, 1954-1978

While there has been much discussion of the decline in institutionalized in recent decades, there has been little work on the consequences of such a decline. This study adopts a social integration/regulation perspective that predicts a rise in suicide from the decline in institutionalized religion. Using Cochrane-Orcutt iterative regression procedures, the investigation links the decline of religion, measured in church attendance, with a rise in suicide. The religious factor tends to be more closely associated with suicide than the rate of unemployment, a control taken from one of the dominant paradigms on suicide. The decline in was most closely associated with the suicide rate of young adults, the group with the greatest decline in church attendance. To 1978, the analysis suggests that any alleged increase in invisible religion had not been adequate to offset the effect of the fall in institutionalized on suicide. While the fall in church attendance was the most important factor associated with rising suicide rates, the rate of unemployment and military participation were also significant.