Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth for the Colson Center on Johnstone Street. A new study that draws on 122 years of mortality rates in the U.S. is offering a window into suicide trends. Rather than focusing on just individual or psychological traits like depression and substance abuse, researchers in this study sought to understand the role that societal factors play in driving trends. Among other things, the results point to the role that the church can play in offering hope.
The data points to a number of significant shifts. Suicide rates are higher and start younger each and every decade. Death by suicide among women is skyrocketing. Rural suicides now exceed those in metropolitan areas. And suicide rates have peaked during periods of major social upheaval, like the Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression, and even surprisingly, the advancement of the women's rights movement.
This should put us on alert in the coming age of AI. According to these researchers, and I quote, suicide appears to be powerfully shaped by what's happening in society, economically, socially, and culturally.
Now, among the factors that are most apparent, especially for young people, are technology and family structures. The generation that is most digitally connected than any other before it also is the loneliest in all of recorded history. A joint study that was released a year ago also revealed this connection between addictive screen use among young people, like gangsters. And compulsive social media checking and suicide risk. Another study showed correlation between youth loneliness and shrinking family sizes, including single-parent homes, because the study suggested, and I quote, children are less likely to have automatic peer interaction or large support networks at home.
And this increased screen use, combined with decreased human connection, can also help explain that rise in suicide in rural areas. What the study does not address really are the vast ideological shifts that have taken place culturally over the decades. Certainly, the shifts toward radical autonomy, expressive individualism, self-determination, all must be considered. Not to mention the very confusing messaging that always accompanies the push for legal medically assisted suicide. Still, the study's authors did suggest where solutions to the suicide crisis could be found.
And I quote. If suicide risk rises and falls with broader social conditions, then prevention has to go beyond the clinic. We need tailored strategies that address connectedness, community, economic stability, and the lived experience of entire generations, not just interventions targeted at individuals after they are already in crisis. Did you catch all that? Connectedness, community, stability, generational mentors?
Look, if that doesn't sound like families and churches, it should. Back in the mid-2010s, El Paso County and Colorado had the highest youth suicide rate in the whole country. After a particularly heavy season of suicides and attempts among high school students, officials put first responders in place, volunteers to walk around school cafeterias just looking for students to talk to. students that looked alone, isolated, or sad. It made a dramatic difference in the overall numbers of suicides and attempts.
And along with other strategies, teen suicide rates in the county dropped over the next few years.
Now, who were these volunteers that were willing to brave middle and high school cafeterias?
Well, mostly, they were people to be found in local churches. Back in 2018, Lifeway Research reported that only 27% of churches had a real plan to assist families affected by mental illness. And though a majority of pastors reported being equipped to handle suicide threats in their churches, only 4% of churchgoers who lost a loved one to suicide said that church leaders were even aware of the struggles. Churches have an incredible opportunity to make a difference in this area, but only if we are intentional about it. Christians have the hope of Christ, and that's something that must be put to good use against the cultural scourge of suicide today.
The Hope Always course is a great way to prepare to become the kind of first responder that can really make a difference. In this course, that's offered within the Colson Educators Learning Platform, Dr. Matthew Sleith provides a biblically grounded and medically sound way to understand suicide and respond to it with clarity, confidence, and courage. Learn more at colsoneducators.org. That's colsoneducators.org.
For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Haley Wilson. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download your podcast. And for more resources or to share this commentary with others, go to breakpoint.org. Scripture offers us the capital T true truth account of the world as it actually is.
If this is the story of the world, there is a storyteller. In a world that says live your truth, Christians have the responsibility to live out the truth. Truth Rising the Study explores the true story of the world through creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. You'll see this cultural moment through the bigger story of reality written by God. Start this free study today at colsoncenter.org/slash study.
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