ABSTRACT
This study assessed the influence of marital status and religion on suicidal ideation in
residents of Jos North LGA of Plateau state. Eight hundred and ten participants made up of
444 males and 366 females with mean age of 28.7 years, and standard deviation of 11 years
participated in the study. The Beck and Steer Suicidal Scale (BSS) (1991) was used to
obtain data to test two hypotheses using the ANOVA statistic. The said hypotheses were
that marital status would have significant effect on suicidal ideation, and religion would
have significant effect on suicidal ideation. Test results for hypothesis one showed that single
participants did not experience suicidal ideation more than those who are married or
separated with means; 2.57, 2.00, 1.82; F (1, 799) = 1.175, p = 0.309 (p >.05). Similarly,
the test results of hypothesis two revealed that religion had no significant effect on suicidal
ideation, with means 2.17, 2.67 and 1.00 respectively for Christians and Muslims and
others, F (1, 799) = 0.963, p = 0.382 (p>.05) Based on these findings, it was recommended
researchers need to explore the roles of marital status and religion on suicide ideation.
Key words: Marital status, religion, Suicide ideation, Jos North LGA.