Religious practice has significant effects on the mortality rates of so-called ‘deaths of despair’.

That’s according to a new research paper from three US academics.

In recent decades, death rates from poisonings, suicides, and alcoholic liver disease have dramatically increased in the United States.  Examining the phenomena, Tyler Giles (Wellesley College), Daniel Hungerman (University of Notre Dame) and Tamar Oostrom (The Ohio State University) found that these “deaths of despair” began to increase relative to trend in the early 1990s.

They also found that this increase was preceded by a decline in religious participation, and that both trends were driven by middle-aged white Americans.

Moreover, using repeals of blue laws (restricting Sunday trading) as an external shock to religiosity, they inferred that religious practice has significant effects on these mortality rates.

They concluded that social factors such as organized religion can play an important role in understanding deaths of despair.