Presidential Election and Suicide: Will Elections Send You Over Edge?

(CBS) Voters who threaten suicide over the results of presidential elections may be speaking in jest, but a new study suggests that presidential outcomes really do affect suicide rates.

Just not in the way you might imagine.

In states where most voters supported the winning candidate, suicide rates fell, the study showed. Surprisingly, suicide rates feel even more in states where most voters supported the election loser (4.6 percent lower for men and 5.3 percent lower for women).

Why would voters be less likely to commit suicide whether or not "their" candidate won?

Scientists say it's all about social cohesion.

"Sure, supporting the loser stinks, but if everyone around you supported the loser, it isn't as bad because you feel connected to those around you," Dr. Richard A. Dunn, lead author of the study, said in a written statement. "In other words, it is more comforting to be a Democrat in Massachusetts or Rhode Island when George W. Bush was re-elected than to be the lonely Democrat in Idaho or Oklahoma."

The study, based on a state-by-state analysis of suicide rates in the U.S. between 1981 and 2005, was published in the September issue of "Social Science Quarterly."