The Effects of Marital Status, Fertility, and Bereavement on Adult Mortality in Polygamous and Monogamous Households: Evidence From the Utah Population Database.

Although the associations among marital status, fertility, bereavement, and adult mortality have been widely studied, much less is known about these associations in polygamous households, which remain prevalent across much of the world. We use data from the Utah Population Database on 110,890 women and 106,979 men born up to 1900, with mortality follow-up into the twentieth century. We examine how the number of wife deaths affects male mortality in polygamous marriages, how sister wife deaths affect female mortality in polygamous marriages relative to the death of a husband, and how marriage order affects the mortality of women in polygamous marriages. We also examine how the number of children ever born and child deaths affect the mortality of men and women as well as variation across monogamous and polygamous unions. Our analyses of women show that the death of a husband and the death of a sister wife have similar effects on mortality. Marriage order does not play a role in the mortality of women in polygamous marriages. For men, the death of one wife in a polygamous marriage increases mortality to a lesser extent than it does for men in monogamous marriages. For polygamous men, losing additional wives has a dose-response effect. Both child deaths and lower fertility are associated with higher mortality. We consistently find that the presence of other kin in the household-whether a second wife, a sister wife, or children-mitigates the negative effects of bereavement.

The LGB Mormon Paradox: Mental, Physical, and Self-Rated Health Among Mormon and Non-Mormon LGB Individuals in the Utah Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

Much of the literature on mental and physical health among religious LGB individuals has relied on small-N convenience samples. This study takes advantage of a unique, large-N, population-based dataset to test the relationship between religious identity, religious activity, and health, with a specific emphasis on Utah Mormons. In a surprising finding, Mormon LGBs report better mental health than non-Mormon LGBs, while their self-rated and physical health is not significantly different. However, there is some evidence that Mormon LGBs derive fewer health benefits from church attendance than their non-LGB Mormon counterparts. These results may nuance the conventional wisdom regarding the health dynamics of LGB individuals who identify with a conservative, heteronormative religious tradition, and plausible explanations are discussed.

Spatial analysis of drug poisoning deaths in the American West, particularly Utah.

BACKGROUND: Most states in the Western US have high rates of drug poisoning death (DPD), especially New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Utah (UT). This seems paradoxical in UT where illicit drug use, smoking and drinking rates are low. To investigate this, spatial analysis of county level DPD data and other relevant factors in the Western US and UT was undertaken. METHODS: Poisson kriging was used to smooth the DPD data, populate data gaps and improve the reliability of rates recorded in sparsely populated counties. Links between DPD and economic, environmental, health, lifestyle, and demographic factors were investigated at four scales using multiple linear regression. LDS church membership and altitude, factors not previously considered, were included. Spatial change in the strength and sign of relationships was investigated using geographically weighted regression and significant DPD clusters were identified using the Local Moran's I. RESULTS: Economic factors, like the sharp social gradient between rural and urban areas were important to DPD throughout the west. Higher DPD rates were also found in areas of higher elevation and the desert rural areas in the south. The unique characteristics of DPD in UT in terms of health and lifestyle factors, as well as the demographic structure of DPD in the most LDS populous states (UT, Idaho, Wyoming), suggest that high DPD in heavily LDS areas are predominantly prescription opioid related whereas in other Western states a larger proportion of DPD might come from illicit drugs. CONCLUSION: Drug policies need to be adapted to the geographical differences in the dominant type of drug causing death. Educational materials need to be marketed to the demographic groups at greatest risk and take into account differences in population characteristics between and within States. Some suggestions about how such adaptations can be made are given and future research needs outlined.

Health beliefs and practices in an isolated polygamist community of southern Utah.

Short Creek is a largely closed and isolated community on the border between Utah and Arizona, made up of the sister towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona. Beginning from childhood, the 6,000 or so members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) are brought up in a lifestyle of plural marriage, meaning a marriage among one man and more than one woman, and are surrounded by their peers in "the covenant." A lifestyle of plural marriage is likely to affect the health of community members, but its effects have not been studied because of the community's isolation and distrust of outsiders. This paper addresses several questions that arise in contemplating the health of the Short Creek community: What are the health beliefs in this community, and what are their historical bases? Where do families seek medical care, and for what or at what threshold of illness or injury? What is the attitude of care providers serving this community, and how are the providers viewed by the community? More broadly, this paper examines the ways in which polygamy configures health. In order to meet this objective, this paper aims first to provide a brief account of this community's history and demographic profile, followed by a discussion of health care in this community and how it is affected by the practice of plural marriage, with the data comprised of qualitative interviews with health care providers to the community. The goals of this project are to gain a rich, historically nuanced understanding of the health of community members, and to identify directions for further academic and policy research. Our findings indicate that health in this community is shaped by limited resources, an attitude of health fatalism, and a profound insularity and corresponding isolation from the outside world.

Marital fertility and income: moderating effects of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints religion in Utah.

Utah has the highest total fertility of any state in the United States and also the highest proportion of population affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS or Mormon Church). Data were used from the 1996 Utah Health Status Survey to investigate how annual household income, education and affiliation with the LDS Church affect fertility (children ever born) for married women in Utah. Younger age and higher education were negatively correlated with fertility in the sample as a whole and among non-LDS respondents. Income was negatively associated with fertility among non-LDS respondents. However, income was positively correlated with fertility among LDS respondents. This association persisted when instrumental variables were used to address the potential simultaneous equations bias arising from the potential endogeneity of income and fertility. The LDS religion's pronatalist stance probably encourages childbearing among those with higher income.

A good social work: women's clubs, libraries, and the construction of a secular society in Utah, 1890-1920.

After the renunciation of polygamy, Mormon women formed secular women's clubs as a means of collaborating with non-Mormon women in the construction of a shared secular society. Their common goal was the establishment and maintenance of the mainstream American social order. Activity in these clubs extended women's sphere into the public realm through socially acceptable public activities such as the temperance cause, civic improvements, political reform movements, and child welfare. The women campaigned for public support of libraries as institutions that would construct, preserve, and transmit American culture, educate the young, strengthen the home and family, and reform society.

Psychosis or faith? Clinicians' assessment of religious beliefs.

This study investigated mental health professionals' assessment of the pathognomonic significance of religious beliefs. A total of 110 participants reviewed 3 vignettes depicting individuals possessing the religious beliefs associated with Catholicism, Mormonism, and Nation of Islam. The religious beliefs of the individuals in the vignettes were identified as either being integral to a religious tradition or not and also as either resulting in a threat to harm another or not. Identifying beliefs as religious resulted in lower ratings of pathology for 2 of the religions, and beliefs that did not involve a threat to harm also were rated lower for the same 2 religions. The results reveal a disjuncture between recommendations of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and clinicians' judgments.