by Samuel Wilkinson and Stephen Cranney
Suicide is a pressing public health challenge in the United States. In 2023 alone, almost 50,000 Americans died by suicide. Unfortunately, this number has been growing for over two decades. Dating back to Emile Durkheim, marriage has long been known to be protective against suicide. However, given that many facets of marriage and culture have changed considerably over the past decades, we sought to examine whether this well-documented protective association between marriage and the risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors has changed. To do so, we analyzed over a decade of data (2008-2019) from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
Our report, published recently in the Journal of Affective Disorders, found that unmarried individuals were, on average, approximately three times more likely than their married counterparts to report suicidal thoughts, plans, or attempts (see Figures 1 to 3 below).
This association held even after adjusting for a wide range of demographic and socioeconomic factors, including age, sex, race, income, education, and religious attendance.
