religious beliefs may reduce the negative effect of psychiatric disorders on age of onset of suicidal ideation among blacks in the united states

objective: to evaluate the possible interaction between religious beliefs and psychiatric disorders among black americans. methods: in this study, we used data of 5181 adult black americans who had participated in national survey of american life (nsal) from february 2001 to june 2003. variables such as socio-demographics, religious beliefs, and psychiatric disorders were entered in a cox regression to determine the possible interaction between psychiatric disorders (0, 1, ≥2) and the subjective religiosity on age of onset of suicidal thought among the participants. main outcome was age of the first serious suicidal ideation. results: a dose-dependent effect of number of psychiatric disorders on suicidal ideation was observed. psychiatric disorders had a higher impact on age of suicidal ideation among those with low self-reported religiosity. conclusion: religious beliefs may buffer the effect of psychiatric disorders on suicidal thought. blacks who are less religious and suffer psychiatric disorders are at the highest risk for early suicidal ideation.