title: Does Religiosity Mediate Suicidal Tendencies? A South African Study of Muslim Tertiary Students.
abstract: Despite international studies into religion's protective mechanism against suicidal tendencies, within South Africa there is a paucity of research investigating this relationship. This quantitative study investigates the relationship between religiosity and suicidal tendencies in a sample of Muslim students (N = 111). Two scales were used to test the hypothesis that religion mediates suicidal tendency: the Religious Orientation Test and the Multi-Attitude Suicide Tendency Scale. The findings confirmed this hypothesis but disconfirmed our second hypothesis that there would be gender differences between the variables. We concluded that a high degree of religiosity acts as a protective mechanism against suicidal tendencies and discuss the implications of our findings.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Psychology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus, Durban, 4041, South Africa.
authors.forename: Tasnim Bibi
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Kazi
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Psychology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College Campus, Durban, 4041, South Africa. naidoos15@ukzn.ac.za.
authors.forename: Sarojini
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Naidoo
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D013019:South Africa; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013406:Suicide, Attempted; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Muslim; Religiosity; South Africa; Suicidal tendency