Suicide Attempts of Muslims Compared With Other Religious Groups in the US

On July 21, 2021, an article in JAMA Psychiatry found that American Muslims have twice the rate of suicide attempts compared to other surveyed faith groups. From an August 10, 2021 NPR article about the study: “Nearly 8% of Muslims in the survey reported a suicide attempt in their lifetime compared with 6% of Catholics, 5% of Protestants and 3.6% of Jewish respondents.” The study this publication is based on also includes data from ISPU’s 2019 American Muslim Poll.

Multiple ISPU scholars were involved in this study, including Dr. Rania Awaad, director of the Stanford Muslim Mental Health & Islamic Psychology Lab, and Dr. Hamada Hamid, co-founder of the Muslim Mental Health Institute, as well as ISPU Director of Research Dalia Mogahed. You can read the report abstract and obtain access to the full report here. ISPU’s Muslim mental health toolkit is also available for individuals, community leaders, and mental health professionals seeking additional information.

A webinar featuring study authors and discussing the impact of this data on community conversations was hosted on September 2021. Watch a recording of that webinar here.