Department of Psychology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou Dadao North Road 1838, Guangzhou, China.
BMC Public Health. 2012 Aug 17;12:668. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-12-668.
Research suggests that Chinese religious believers are more likely to commit suicide than those identifying as non-religious among rural young adults, contrary to findings in Western countries. However, one cannot conclude that religiosity is associated with elevated suicide risk without examining the effect of political and religious beliefs in a generally atheist country like China where political belief plays a dominant role in the belief system of young adults. The present study investigated the effects of political and religious belief on suicidality with meaningfulness and psychopathology as potential mediators in a large representative sample of Chinese college students.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1390 first-year college students randomly sampled from 10 colleges and universities in mainland China.
A total of 1168 respondents (84.0%) provided complete data on all variables. Lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation, plan, and attempt were 45.1%, 6.8%, and 1.9% respectively, with one-year suicidal ideation showing at 19.3%. Female gender was associated with elevated risk of suicidality. Political belief but not religious belief was associated with decreased suicide risk. A significant interactive effect of political belief and religious belief was found, indicating that for political believers, being religious was associated with decreased suicide risk; for non-political believers, being religious was associated with increased suicide risk. Multi-group structural equation modeling showed that meaningfulness completely mediated and psychopathology partially mediated the effect of belief system on suicidality. Gender differences were found in pathways of political belief by religious beliefs to suicidality and political belief to psychopathology. The coefficients were significant for males but not for females.
In less religious societies, political belief may serve as a means of integration as does religious affiliation in religious societies. Males were more likely to benefit from the protective effect of a belief system on suicidality than females.
研究表明，在农村青年中，与不信教者相比，宗教信仰者更有可能自杀，这与西方国家的研究结果相反。然而，如果不考察在一个普遍无神论的国家（如中国）中政治信仰在年轻人的信仰体系中所起的主导作用，就不能得出宗教信仰与自杀风险升高有关的结论。本研究在中国大陆 10 所高校的 1390 名大一新生中，以有意义感和精神病理学为潜在中介，调查了政治和宗教信仰对自杀意念的影响。
采用横断面调查方法，对中国大陆 10 所高校的 1390 名大一新生进行随机抽样。
共有 1168 名受访者（84.0%）完整地提供了所有变量的数据。终生自杀意念、计划和尝试的发生率分别为 45.1%、6.8%和 1.9%，其中一年自杀意念发生率为 19.3%。女性性别与自杀意念风险升高有关。政治信仰而非宗教信仰与自杀风险降低有关。政治信仰和宗教信仰之间存在显著的交互作用，表明对于政治信仰者，宗教信仰与自杀风险降低有关；对于非政治信仰者，宗教信仰与自杀风险升高有关。多组结构方程模型显示，有意义感完全中介了信仰体系对自杀意念的影响，而精神病理学部分中介了该影响。在政治信仰通过宗教信仰对自杀意念的影响和政治信仰对精神病理学的影响的路径中，发现了性别差异。这些系数在男性中显著，但在女性中不显著。
在宗教信仰较少的社会中，政治信仰可能像宗教信仰一样，成为一种整合的手段。与女性相比，男性更有可能从信仰体系对自杀意念的保护作用中获益。
