Youth Suicide Rates and Mormon Religious Context: An Additional Empirical Analysis

Abstract

Much has been discussed and written regarding whether or not the rate of LGBT youth suicides 1 in the Mormon community has risen in the wake of the November 2015 handbook policy change that categorizes same-sex married couples as "apostates" and forbids baptism to children in same-sex married households. 2 While there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence supporting this connection, more rigorous empirical data are harder to come by. In an attempt to address this shortage, my colleagues Daniel Par-kinson, Michael Barker, and I have presented a wide range of evidence examining direct, indirect, and anecdotal evidence examining the relationship between Mormon culture/norms/rhetoric and youth suicide rates in the Mormon community, especially among LGBT youths. 3 We conclude that while there is little direct evidence available to be able to conclusively demonstrate that a Mormon environment results in higher levels of youth LGBT suicides, there is sufficient indirect and anecdotal