It’s generally a pretty well known fact to Utahn’s that the suicide rate isn’t great, and only continues to get worse. There’s been several theories about why this might be, from embarrassment to seek help, lack of friendship, to even juvenile court appearances. However, it’s also notable that even though there’s been several leads as to why Utah seems to have an ever increase rate of suicide, there’s been no significant results from any prevention programs. Something rarely implicated, if ever, is that Mormonism, it’s ideology, and the way that the church affects it’s members could be an underlying cause of Utah’s suicide rate. What does the data have to show for it? Where can we start looking at trends to see if there’s a correlation?
An interesting place to start is looking at trends pertaining to youth (ages 10-17), since in Utah suicide is actually the leading cause of death for this age group. This article by Hatch opens with “Utah suicide rates are skyrocketing and are now the leading cause of death for Utah youth. The youth suicide rate has tripled in Utah since 2007 — jumping from three out of every 100,000 youth to 8.5, an alarming increase not seen anywhere else in the country.” Utah in itself has one major feature that notably separates it from the majority of the other states- it’s population of Mormons, as mentioned formerly. As the LGBT movement increasingly surges for equality, is there a setback because of the conservative Mormon culture?
There’s definitely language on behalf of the faith that not only creates separation, but dehumanizes those in the LGBT community. An article by Lee Hale says “Often that role goes to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which calls homosexuality a serious sin. The Church even labels those in same-gender relationships as “apostates” whose children require special permission to be baptized.” With that attitude, added to the increasing LGBT agenda encouraging equality and LGBT people to be comfortable with who they are, it’s no wonder that Utah’s suicide rates aren’t fixing themselves. Maybe it’d be helpful to start including the LDS church in the possible culprits of the ever increasing and attention-demanding issue.
Data/Society/Decision-making Spring 2019 