Nature, Community and Suicidality: A Cross-Cultural Study Between Frankfurt, Germany and Missoula, USA

The ideas, thoughts, and plans around suicide are often treated with hospitalization and psychotherapy. However, connection is often glossed over in the conversation on treatment. Research suggests having a sense of belonging within our human and natural communities is crucial for human health. Globally, young men are the most likely to report high degrees of loneliness and are more likely to live alone, strong risk factors for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt and men in both Frankfurt and Missoula show higher suicide risk than women. In contrast, according to research by ecopsychologists, Integration of Nature into Self (one's perceived relationship to the natural world) is highly associated with maintaining positive mental health. In this study, English-speaking men aged 19-30 years will be recruited by posters placed in randomized places in both locations. They will be asked questions from two Likert scales to measure Connection to Community (PCSQ) (Herrero & Gracia, 2007) and Connection to the Environment (Ecospirituality Scale) (Suganthi, 2019) interspersed with questions from a four-item measure (SBQ-R)(Osman et al., 1999) to assess experience with suicidality. This study hypothesizes a strong negative correlation between suicidality and high perceived community support and predicts another strong negative correlation between suicidality and high connection to nature in both Frankfurt and Missoula. It also hypothesizes that Missoula will likely have higher average Connection to Nature while Frankfurt will have higher Community Connection. This data has the potential to support further research on incorporating ecotherapy and community therapy options into treatment for suicidality in men.