Religion and Suicide in Iran (Comparative Internal Analysis)

The relationship between religion and suicide has long been studied by social scientists, especially sociologists. In the present article, by reviewing the theoretical and empirical literature in this field of study, at first, the mechanisms of relationship between the religion and suicide are explained and then the main hypothesis of the research was evaluated empirically with secondary data of Iran through an inter-country comparative analysis with the provincial analysis unit. The findings of this study showed that the main hypothesis in sociological theoretical views that "religion has a protective or reducing effect against suicide" in the context of the Muslim community in Iran is also fully confirmed empirically. More precisely, when the effects of three influential variables on suicide at the systemic level, namely socio-economic development; Family integration, and social disorder were controlled; the net effect of religion on suicide in the provinces of Iran was significantly reduced, indicating the fact that religion had a significant protective effect on suicide. This finding fully indicates the net and independent effect of religion on suicide in the provinces of Iran and is an empirical support for the thesis that religion can play the role of a shield or protector against suicide by promoting coping with the suffering of life and thus, reduce the risk of suicide.