Report: Conservative parents more likely to raise mentally healthy teens

Right wing Christian organization produces a study saying it’s best to be a right wing Christian… news at 11.

 

Well, it’s best to be a Christian and to be right.

 

States with the highest rates of suicide:

1. Wyoming
2. Montana
3. Alaska
4. New Mexico
5. South Dakota
6. Colorado
7. Oklahoma
8. Nevada
9. North Dakota
10. Arkansas

7 red states, 2 blue states, and 1 blue-leaning swing state.

States with the lowest rates of suicide:

1. New Jersey
2. New York
3. Massachusetts
4. Maryland
5. Connecticut
6. California
7. Rhode Island
8. Illinois
9. Virginia
10. North Carolina

9 blue states and 1 red-leaning swing state.

Stats of the State - Suicide Mortality

 

And even more relevant to the subject of this thread.

The community types with the most youth suicides tended to be more geographically scattered, relatively isolated groups, such as Native Americans, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, strongholds of evangelical Christian practice, and farmlands in the Great Plains.

In these groups, teenagers may face more pressure to conform to traditional religious and gender roles. This fact, coupled with difficulty finding others to socialize with and increased access to firearms or living in a place where gun culture is deeply entrenched, boosts the risk levels for taking one’s own life.​

The US Teen Suicide Rate Is On The Rise | Charlie Health

Although data from this study is over 10 years old conservative families back then weren't any different than conservative families today.
Teen-Suicide-Attempt Rate Higher in Conservative Areas

 

Positive Association between Altitude and Suicide in 2584 U.S. Counties

Brenner, Barry, David Cheng, Sunday Clark, and Carlos A. Camargo, Jr. Positive association between altitude and suicide in 2584 U.S.counties. High Alt. Med. Biol. 12: 31–35 2011.—Suicide is an important public health problem worldwide. Recent preliminary studies have reported a positive correlation between mean altitude and the suicide rate of the 48 contiguous U.S.states. Because intrastate altitude may have large variation, we examined all 2584 U.S. counties to evaluate whether an independent relationship between altitude and suicide exists. We hypothesized that counties at higher elevation would have higher suicide rates. This retrospective study examines 20 yr of county-specific mortality data from 1979 to 1998. County altitude was obtained from the U.S. Geologic Survey. Statistical analysis included Pearson correlation, t tests, and multivariable linear and logistic regression. Although there was a negative correlation between county altitude and all-cause mortality (r = −0.31, p < 0.001), there was a strong positive correlation between altitude and suicide rate (r = 0.50, p < 0.001). Mean altitude differed in the 50 counties, with the highest suicide rates compared to those with the lowest rates (4684 vs. 582 ft, p < 0.001). Controlling for percent of age >50 yr, percent male, percent white, median household income, and population density of each county, the higher-altitude counties had significantly higher suicide rates than the lower-altitude counties. Similar findings were observed for both firearm-related suicides (59% of suicides) and nonfirearm-related suicides. We conclude that altitude may be a novel risk factor for suicide in the contiguous United States.

 

The Happiness-Suicide Paradox
Author(s): Mary C. Daly, Andrew J. Oswald, Daniel J. Wilson, and Stephen Wu

Suicide is an important scientific phenomenon. Yet its causes remain poorly understood. This study documents a paradox: the happiest places have the highest suicide rates. The study combines findings from two large and rich individual‐level data sets—one on life satisfaction and another on suicide deaths—to establish the paradox in a consistent way across U.S. states. It replicates the finding in data on Western industrialized nations and checks that the paradox is not an artifact of population composition or confounding factors. The study concludes with the conjecture that people may find it particularly painful to be unhappy in a happy place, so that the decision to commit suicide is influenced by relative comparisons.

 

No such thing as a 'mentally healthy' teen

 

I tend to not buy that argument, actually.

Suicide in Happy Places: Is There Really a Paradox? - Journal of Happiness Studies

However, I think the political results do tend to replicate at the county level. Just off of the earlier data that I posted, I looked at county 2020 election results and county level voting in New Jersey, the lowest state in terms of suicide rates. Biden vote share and suicide rates were negatively correlated at -0.6194. I did the same for the highest suicide state, Wyoming, finding a correlation at the county level of -0.3448.

I'd buy the altitude explanation (it makes sense why Colorado and New Mexico show up on the high suicide list, for example) more than the paradox explanation.

 

And for teens:

Teen suicide rates by state U.S. 2020 | Statista