COUNTY LEVEL SUICIDE RATES AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION: URBANICITY AND ITS ROLE IN THE RELATIONSHIP

This study adds to the existing research concerning ecological relationships between suicide rates, social interaction, and urbanicity in the United States. Age-sex-race adjusted five-year averaged suicide rates for 1993–1997 and various measures of urbanicity are used. Some proposed relationships held true, while others indicate that social integration and urbanicity are so intertwined in their effects on suicide that no clear, unidirectional pattern emerges. The religious affiliation measure captured unique variations in the role religion plays in this relationship, depending on how urbanicity was measured. Findings suggest closer attention needs to be paid to how both urbanicity and religious affiliation are measured. Overall, vast regional variation exists in suicide rates and the role of urbanization can be misunderstood if not properly specified.     

Religious Identity and Family Ideologies in the Transition to Adulthood

This article examines how religion shapes family ideologies in young adulthood. Using the 31‐year Intergenerational Panel Study of Parents and Children (N= 909), we find relationships between mother’s religious characteristics when her child was born and the child’s own family ideologies in young adulthood. Further, multiple dimensions of young adults’ religious identities are independently related to their family ideologies, suggesting unique influences of both religious service attendance and the importance of religion. Our results vary across time and family ideologies in interesting patterns, but relationships between religion and attitudes are remarkably consistent. From early in life, mothers’ and children’s religious characteristics shape family ideologies in ways likely to help explain relationships found between religion and family behaviors.     

Family life of older black men

This report explores family structure and functioning among 58 men whose ages range from 65 to 96. In comparison to women in this study, men are no more likely to be isolated from their family. In fact, more men are married and live with others, and there are no significant differences in other indicators of family integration. There were no significant differences in the instrumental and expressive supports from members of the extended family. Those men who are married have a strong relationship with their wives. Most fathers have active relationships with their children but are closer to sons over daughters and proximal children over distant ones. Collateral relationships include strong bonds with siblings and siblings' children. Those with few family relationships have pieced-together networks of friends and kindred.     

Culture and Suicide Acceptability: A Cross‐National,Multilevel Analysis

Cultural perspectives on suicidality have been largely marked by work explaining variability in suicide acceptability in the United States using structural variables including marital status and demographics, and limited symbolic or values orientations such as feminism, political liberalism, and civil liberties. The present article applies recent developments in comparative cultural sociology to the problem of suicidality. The central hypothesis is that cultural approval of suicide is related to a general cultural axis of nations (self‐expressionism) encompassing several values orientations such as tolerance and post‐materialism. Data are from Wave 4 of the World Values Surveys and refer to 53,275 individuals nested in 56 nations. Controls are incorporated from previous studies and include structural and demographic constructs. A hierarchical linear regression model determined that the degree of individual‐level adherence to the values of self‐expressionism predicted suicide acceptability (SA), independent of controls including ones interpretable from Durkheimian perspectives. Furthermore, persons high in individual‐level self‐expressionism nested in like‐minded nations were relatively high in SA. The analysis of the subject is expanded to 56 nations representing all major culture zones and varied levels of economic/political development. It determined that SA is shaped by a new, broad cultural construct, self‐expressionism whose impact is independent of Durkheimian familial and religious integration.     

Communicatively Managing Religious Identity Difference in Parent-Child Relationships: The Role of Accommodative and Nonaccommodative Communication

Guided by Communication Accommodation Theory, we examine the communicative management of religious difference in parent-child relationships. Using survey data from emerging adults (N = 409), we found that religious difference is associated with decreases in relational satisfaction and shared family identity. Further, parents’ religious communication has the potential to promote relational well-being. Accommodative communication (religious-specific supportive communication and respecting divergent values) was associated with increases in relational satisfaction and shared family identity. Two forms of nonaccommodative communication (inappropriate self-disclosure and emphasizing divergent values) were associated with decreases with relational satisfaction and shared family identity; giving unwanted advice was associated with decreases in relational satisfaction but not shared family identity. Giving unwanted advice moderated the relationship between religious difference and relational satisfaction. Differences were also discovered between families with inter- and intrafaith parental dyads. Findings suggest theoretical and methodological contributions to family communication, religious, and intergroup research.     

Intention of activism and radicalism among Muslim and Christian youth in a marginal neighbourhood in a Spanish city / Intención de activismo y radicalismo de jóvenes musulmanes y cristianos residentes en un barrio marginal de una ciudad española

The aim of this research is to assess the intended level of religious and political activism and radicalism in a sample of Muslim and Christian youth living in a marginalised neighbourhood in a southern city in Spain. Interrelations between activism and radicalism and other psychosocial factors potentially contributing to religious and political mobilisation processes are analysed, such as group identification, self-esteem, violent disinhibition, religious extremism and perceived oppression. Important differences in religious and national identification were found. Muslims scored higher in a statistically significant way on various indicators of religious extremism. Both perceived oppression and shared ideology inside the endogroup seem to be contributing factors to having an intention of radicalism in the Muslim group where social identity anchored in religion prevails. These results point to the fact that there is a polarisation that can serve as the threshold of conflict and radical mobilisation in the critical context analysed. The results are discussed within the framework of previous research into psychology of radicalisation and terrorism.     

Suicide,Religion, and Latinos: A Macrolevel Study of U.S. Latino Suicide Rates

Since the publication of Durkheim's Suicide more than a century ago, researchers have been examining the relationship between religion and suicide, and race/ethnicity and suicide. However, no study has examined how religion influences U.S. Latino suicide rates. This study fills a gap in the literature by applying three competing theses to the study of Latino suicide. Results show that (1) religious contextual variables significantly affect Latino suicide rates, (2) U.S.‐born Latinos benefit from religious communities, regardless of denomination or measurement used, and (3) foreign‐born Latinos only benefit from Catholic adherents and homogeneity.     

Environmental conversions and muslim activists: constructing knowledge at the intersection of religion and politics

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the production of knowledge by Muslim environmental activists in the United States and Great Britain, applying Eyerman and Jamison’s theory of cognitive praxis to demonstrate how religious and political knowledge and practices are synthesised by the activists. The paper emerges from research conducted with Islamic environmental organizations in the United States and Great Britain in 2012–2013 and utilises data gathered from interviews conducted with Muslim environmental activists working in those organizations and from the publicly available newsletters, websites, and articles produced by the activists and organizations. I argue that through the integration of environmental and religious knowledge, Muslim environmentalists construct a ‘critical community’ within Islam that seeks to transform orthodox Islamic knowledge and practice. In the process, Muslim environmentalists demonstrate that religiously-grounded social movements may simultaneously pursue religious and political change.     

Changes in conjugal life in Canada: Is cohabitation progressively replacing marriage?

This article aims first to contrast the trends of marriage and cohabitation across different regions in Canada, and second, to assess whether cohabitation constitutes a new stage in the progression to marriage, or an alternative to marriage altogether. Based on various empirical demographic indicators, the analysis shows profound differences across the country. In Quebec, cohabiting unions are now widely accepted as forming the basis for family life, whereas they still largely constitute a childless prelude to marriage elsewhere in Canada. The authors discuss the role of different religious and cultural backgrounds, and of recent changes in the relationships between men and women, in accounting for the divergent evolution observed.     

The Effects of Work and Community Resources and Demands on Family Integration

This paper uses interviews with 1,156 married dual-earner parents of children aged 10–17 from the 1992–1994 National Survey of Families and Households to examine relationships between work and community resources and demands and two aspects of family integration: activities with adolescents and family cohesion. The results indicate that mothers' shorter paid work hours and fathers' lower participation in community-professional organizations and moderate and high levels of informal helping are positively related to activities with adolescents, whereas moderate and high levels of participation in organized youth activities are positively related to family integration. Community-based subjective resources are positively related to family integration, whereas work-based subjective demands are negatively related to family cohesion. The findings generally are similar for mothers and fathers.     

Religiosity as a predictor of students' political attitudes

This paper analyzes the relationship between students' level of actual religiosity and their sociodemographic characteristics, political orientation, and political attitudes. The paper is based on an online survey conducted at the University of Rijeka (N = 624) in 2021. The vast majority of our respondents (90%) received the three holy sacraments of initiation in their early childhood and attended Catholic religious education at school. The explanation of the significantly less actual religiosity of students is approached from the position of Pickel's contextualized theory of secularization. Relying on Voas and Day, a composite variable distinguishes highly religious students, moderately religious students, weakly religious students, and non-religious students on the basis of the respondents' positioning toward religious self-identification, beliefs, Church attendance, and the importance of religion in one's life. Statistically significant correlations between actual religiosity and political orientation were established. Very religious Catholic students, who are the least numerous and the least homogenous category, are more inclined to right-wing political orientation and reject ethno-nationalism/anti-multiculturalism less and accept clericalism more than other categories of students. In a broader sense, this study reveals that a large number of respondents distance themselves from religion and the Church at student age despite their experience of formal religious socialization at school age. Furthermore, the results suggest that the synergy of the liberalizing effect of education and the tolerant sociocultural atmosphere of an area reduces the influence of religiosity on the political attitudes and orientation of students.     

Family and Household Formations and Suicide in the United States

Family support systems have been theoretically linked to suicide risk. But no research to date has investigated the effects of detailed living arrangements on individual risk of suicide. Using data on 825,462 adults from the National Health Interview Survey Linked Mortality File reveals that living in families with stronger sources of social support and integration decreases risk of suicide. These effects persist despite controls for important individual level characteristics. Risk of suicide decreases for persons in married as well as unmarried families when children are present and risk increases for persons living with unrelated adults. These results reveal the structural importance of family formation on the social integrative forces that contribute to an individual's risk of suicide.     

Family Experience of Borderline Personality Disorder

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) struggle with unbearable emotions that arise out of interpersonal difficulties. Self‐harm and suicidal behaviours serve to regulate these emotions and to gain a sense of well‐being and control in a treatment context where hospital admissions are avoided by mental health services. Clinician engagement with families may be constrained by their knowing the accepted etiology of the disorder, which includes a causal link with the family environment. Other constraining factors include the negativity of those with BPD toward their family, and their clinicians' diagnostic uncertainty or confusion. This qualitative study explored the experience of families whose close relative with BPD has a long history of self‐harm and/or suicide attempts. Family members were found to have chronic and traumatic stress. Family roles and relationships were strained, as were relationships between the family and the mental health system. The findings of this study indicate that treatment for BPD needs to adopt a systemic approach that considers individuals and their significant family relationships, as well as relationships between the family and treatment providers.     

The Correspondence Between Religious Orientation and Socio-Political Liberalism and Conservatism*

Evidence of correspondence in the general population between religious and sociopolitical liberalism and conservatism is as yet inconclusive. This may in part stem from failure to appropriately assess both religious liberalism and socio-political liberalism-conservatism. Upon taking steps to correct these shortcomings, it was found that, for a semi-rural population in west-central Illinois, Christian conservatism was significantly and positively related to socio-political status quo orientation and to conservative political party preference. Conversely, Christian liberalism was found to be significantly and positively related to socio-political change orientation and to liberal political party preference. It was also found that a slight increment in the majority of these relationships occurred for individuals having experienced unfulfilled occupational expectations. This latter finding is interpreted to suggest that the encountering of adverse circumstances, potentially emanating from the social system, operates to increase the correspondence between religious and socio-political liberalism and conservatism.     

The Effects of Religious Fundamentalism and Religiosity on Preference for Traditional Family Norms*

This study examines the effects of religion on preference for a patriarchal family, one in which the husband makes decisions while the wife is subservient to him. The effects of both religious fundamentalism and personal religiosity are considered using a survey of adults in a Southwestern city. The analysis reveals a strong positive direct effect of adherence to a fundamentalist doctrine on support for the patriarchal family, but no direct effect of personal religiosity. An interaction effect of these two variables, reported in some other studies of the effect of religion on other family issues, is not found. The effect of religious fundamentalism is equal in magnitude to the effect of age, and greater than the effects of education, gender, family income, head of household occupational prestige, subjective class identification, race and rural background. With the exceptions of age and gender, religious fundamentalism serves as a crucial intervening variable in the relationships between these variables and endorsement of patriarchal norms in the husband-wife relationship.     

Debatable Marriages: Marriage and Child Marriage in Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

This article examines marriage and the constitution of familial relationships in Saudi Arabia, with a specific focus on one form of marriage that has recently become an issue of public, political, and religious discussion, that of “child marriage.” The situation within Saudi Arabia is compared with gendered relationships in other countries, most notably those in Western Europe, with specific attention given to the United Kingdom. It is argued that policy developments in Saudi Arabia need to be seen in the context of wider Saudi culture, Sharia law, and religious interpretations of the Koran.     

RELIGIOUS CHANGE AND ADOLESCENT FAMILY DYNAMICS

Much more has been documented about the influence of religion on parenting practices than on how the former may shape family life from the perspective of adolescents. Building a conceptual model of religion and changing family relations, we assessed the particular influence of adolescent religious change on the dynamics of their relationships with their parents, and overall satisfaction with their families. Employing data from two waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), results suggested that growth in personal religious salience—how important religion is in adolescents' lives—is uniquely and consistently related to better family relations, even after accounting for behavioral changes—such as excessive drinking and drug abuse—that are detrimental to both religiosity and family relations.     

Collective efficacy, family attachment, and urban adolescent suicide attempts

The suicide rate among American adolescents between the ages of 14-25 has dramatically increased during the last 50 years, and this fact has been the focus of extensive social-scientific investigation. To date, however, research focusing on the joint effects of mental health, family, and contextual-level predictors on adolescents' suicidal behaviors is scarce. Drawing on Durkheim's classic macro-level approach to suicide and collective efficacy theory, we use data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) to examine the effect of informal social controls on adolescents' suicide attempts. Analyzing reports from 990 youth, we examine the hypothesis that neighborhood-level collective efficacy and family-level integration and social control independently affect suicide attempts. We also examine the extent to which they interact in their effects on suicidal behavior. Overall, results from multilevel logit models support the Durkheimian expectation that family attachment reduces the probability that adolescents will attempt suicide. The effect of collective efficacy is interactive in nature. Specifically, we find that collective efficacy significantly enhances the protective effect of family attachment and support on adolescent suicidal behaviors. We discuss findings within the context of social control theory.     

The Reciprocal Relationship Between Religious Beliefs and Acceptance of One’s Gay or Lesbian Family Member

Research suggests that the coming out process can be stressful not only for individuals disclosing their sexual orientation, but also for the family members who receive the news. While research demonstrates that family acceptance of such disclosures is related to one’s religious beliefs, less is known about how religion influences the process of acceptance. There are theoretical reasons to expect that individuals’ religious beliefs interact with their attitudes regarding acceptance in reciprocal ways. Utilizing data from 14 semistructured interviews with family members of lesbian and gay individuals, we offer a preliminary examination of how the process of acceptance is both influenced by and influences a person’s own religious beliefs. Results suggest that the acceptance process involves a complex interaction between an individual’s general proclivity toward acceptance, the degree to which religion promotes or opposes the acceptance of same-sex relationships, and the level of investment one has in their church.