Christian Psychology
80
Table 2 displays the correlation coefficients of
the happiness-related variables with the abortion and
suicide rates. It is apparent that all of the well-being
variables yielded fairly high correlations in the predicted
direction with abortion. The happiness-related variables
were essentially unrelated to female suicide rates but
yielded moderate magnitude correlations for male sui-
cide rates. For the correlations contained in Table 2, the
Happiness scoring was reversed.
Discussion
This discussion is in the context of the research purposes
and findings. As hypothesized, national suicide rates
and national abortion rates in European Christian
countries were positively correlated. And these rates
were inversely related to measures of satisfaction in life.
Implications for Christianity are discussed.
The highest correlations were unquestionably
between suicide rate and Subjective Well-Being, Happi-
ness, and Life Satisfaction, which we subsume under the
more general concept of “happiness-related variables.”
Cause-and-effect relationships cannot be inferred with
any degree of certainty. It is possible that the guilt and
sorrow from human deaths permeates the psychological
health of a society. Another possibility is that unhappi-
ness leads to abortion (and to suicide, as well). In both
abortion and suicide, life is regarded as not sufficiently
worthwhile to preserve it. It is conceivable that there
could be a vicious circle in which life-killing behavior
and existential vacuum feed each other.
The correlations of societal happiness measures
with abortion and suicide rates could be viewed as
consistent with the position that these rates are as-
sociated with existential vacuum. Although Frankl
frequently used the word “spiritual,” he apparently
used it in a broad sense. He acknowledged the support
that religion gives but he does not appear to espouse
any particular religious doctrine. It would appear that
he implied that the concepts of well-to-meaning and
existential vacuum and his logotherapy are applicable to
both the atheist and the practitioner of a monotheistic
religion. It is here suggested that for some Christians
existential vacuum may be associated with more distress
than the non-believer because the Christian may have
lost faith in God and hope for some sort of favorable
life after death.
The zero-order correlations of female suicide rate
with happiness-related variables were not expected.
The substantial correlations with male but not female
suicide rate are difficult to understand and confident
generalizations are not warranted. Nevertheless, this
could be related to the fact that an almost universal
phenomenon is that females tend to score higher on the
Templer (1970) Death Anxiety Scale (Templer, et al.,
2006). If males generally have a lower reported death
anxiety, it would appear this greater societal-generated
stress would be needed to push them above the suicide
threshold. Previous literature provides support for such
a perspective. Male suicide rates are more sensitive to
economic downturns than female rates (Platt, 1992).
Male suicides are more associated with holiday periods
than are female suicide rates (Phillips & Wils, 1987).
A final integrative concept is that contained in
Noys’ (2005) book,
The Culture of Death
. Noys rejects
the contention of some that death is a taboo topic in
modern Western society. He maintains that the media
frequently cover the topic of death to an overwhelming
extent. He referred to such occurrences as the millions
who died in World War I, the encephalitis epidemic
after that war that killed even more people, the Holo-
caust, the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, and
the AIDS epidemic. In his chapter on bioethics, he
lamented the growing power of doctors and dilem-
mas associated with new technological developments
in medicine. The disagreement about the distinction
between ordinary life support and extraordinary life
support illustrates the complexity of the issues. The
relevance of the culture of death to Christianity is that,
although religions and religious leaders state their posi-
tions on abortion and suicide, decisions are made by a
multitude of persons and institutions and forces that
often overpower Christian positions. Doctors, hospital
administrations, economic considerations, social values,
and political influences have considerable power. The
bottom line is that religion is only one of various fac-
tors that have impact on life and death decisions. The
power of Christian religions and leaders varies from
place to place, from time to time, and from circum-
stances to circumstances.
Table 2
Correlation of happiness-related variables with abortion
and suicide rates
Subjective
Well-being
Happiness
Life
Satisfaction
-.77***
-.77***
-.74***
-.58**
-.48**
-.64***
-.07
-.02
-.13
-.50*
-.40*
-.57***
Com-
bined
Females
Males
Abortion
Suicide
*p < .05 **p < .01 ***p < .001
ABORTION AND SUICIDE RATES
