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Joiner's (2005) interpersonal-psychological theory of serious suicidal behavior asserts that the need to belong (Baumeister & Leary, 1995) is so powerful that, when satisfied, it can prevent suicide. We investigate the hypothesis that perceived membership in a valued group as well as interactions with group members result in sports-related "pulling together" that may meet the need to belong. We found that local suicide rates correlated with final national rankings of local college football teams; fewer suicides occurred on the day of the "Miracle on Ice" than on any other February 22; and fewer suicides occurred on recent Super Bowl Sundays compared to non-Super Bowl Sundays. Implications for models of suicidality as well as clinical utility are discussed.
Baumeister and Leary (1995) argued that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation, the thwarting of which leads to numerous negative effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. A thwarted need to belong involves a lack of frequent, positively valenced social interactions coupled with a feeling of not being cared about (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Joiner's (2005) interpersonal-psychological theory of serious suicidal behavior asserts that the need to belong is so powerful that, when satisfied, it can prevent suicide even when other powerful risk factors are operative. By the same token, according to this theory, when the need is thwarted, risk for suicide is increased substantially (cf. Durkheim, 1897, who proposed that suicide resuits, in part, from failure of social integration). In this paper, we investigate the hypothesis that sports-related "pulling together" is associated with reduced suicide rates.
Over a hundred years ago, Durkheim (1897) proposed that suicide results, in part, from failure of social integration. In Durkheim's theory, the common denominator in all suicides is disturbed regulation of the individual by society. He was concerned with two kinds of regulation-social integration and moral regulation-one of which (social regulation) is particularly germane to our emphasis in this paper on "pulling together." Regarding social regulation, too much or too little integration are both potentially associated a society's suicide rate, according to Durkheim. Low integration -low belongingness or a lack of "pulling together"-leads to an increase in a type of suicide that Durkheim labeled "egoistic." His view was that a society's members need something that...