A new study in the journal JAMA Psychiatry found that women who attended a religious service at least once a week were less likely to commit suicide than those who never participated in religious services.

The study, conducted between 1996 and 2010, concluded that the women were five times less likely to take their own lives, UG Christian News reported.

Researchers examined American women, most who identified themselves as Catholic or Protestant. The suicide rate observed was about half of that of all women in the U.S.

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Of the 89,708 participants — aged 39 to 55 — 36 committed suicide at some point over the 15 years, according to the study.

The women’s church attendance wasn’t the only factor. The church they attended also played a role. Protestant women who attended a religious service at least once a week were less likely to commit suicide than women who rarely, or never, went to services.

However, Protestant women were still seven times more likely to take their own lives than Catholic women.

Among female Catholic worshipers, those who attended services more than once a week were far less likely to commit suicide. Of the 6,999 Catholic women in the study who attended Mass more than once a week, not one committed suicide, UG Catholic News reported.

The researchers were led by Tyler J. VanderWeele of Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He suggested that attendance at religious services is “a form of meaningful social participation” that protects women from loneliness and isolation — both factors that are strongly implicated in depression and suicide.