'''Unaffiliated''' is a term used to refer to individuals who are not aligned with a particular religion.<ref name=Definition>{{Cite book|title=The New Encyclopedia of Unbelief|url=httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=YR4RAQAAIAAJ&q=unaffiliated+irreligious&dq=unaffiliated+irreligious&hl=en&ei=1m6uTdDDLKLa0QGT5KHCCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg|quote=With respect to understanding the irreligious, however, the relevance of data on apostates depends upon the orientation they have adopted by the time they are studied (such as unaffiliated religious belief, no stated religious)|publisher=[[Prometheus Books]]|author=Tom Flynn; Richard Dawkins|accessdate=13 November 2010}}</ref><ref name="Meaning">{{cite web|url = http://pewforum.org/Topics/Religious-Affiliation/Unaffiliated/|title=Unaffiliated|publisher=[[Pew Research Center]]|quote=Pew Forum publications—including public opinion polls, demographic reports, research studies, event transcripts and interviews—about people who are unaffiliated with any particular religion. This group includes atheists, agnostics and people who describe their religion as “nothing in particular.”|accessdate=2010-12-02}}</ref> According to the [[Pew Research Center]], this group includes [[atheists]] and [[agnostics]].<ref name="Meaning"/> However, not all individuals who are unaffiliated are [[irreligious]], although the association between the two terms is increasing.<ref name="Corrie E. Norman, Donald S. Armentrout">{{cite book|url = httphttps://books.google.com/books?id=aHSqIWYQWjUC&pg=PA127&dq=unaffiliated+irreligious&hl=en&ei=YnOuTa6sKuPZ0QGM2J2QCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=unaffiliated%20irreligious&f=false|title=Religion in the Contemporary South: Changes, Continuities, and Contexts|publisher=[[University of Tennessee Press]]|quote=Unaffiliated persons are not necessarily hostile to religion or even irreligious. Yet, as the proportion of unaffiliated persons grows, it will be increasingly difficult to assume that there is a religious base, such as Reed's orthodox Protestant consensus, supporting southern culture.|accessdate=2010-12-02}}</ref>
==Studies==
The “Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.” study found that more than 16 percent of all Americans were were unaffiliated.<ref name=Population>{{Cite web|title=Study: Ranks of religiously unaffiliated remain open to faith|url=http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/4035/53/|quote=The “Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.” study involved in-depth interviews with more than 2,800 people who had responded to the earlier “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," which found that more than 16 percent of all Americans were not affiliated with any particular religious group.|publisher=[[Associated Baptist Press]]|author=Robert Marus|accessdate=13 November 2010}}</ref>
According to the [[American Psychiatric Association]], "religiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation."<ref name=Religion>{{Cite web|title=Religious Affiliation and Suicide Attempt|url=http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/12/2303|quote=Religiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation. Unaffiliated subjects were younger, less often married, less often had children, and had less contact with family members. Furthermore, subjects with no religious affiliation perceived fewer reasons for living, particularly fewer moral objections to suicide. In terms of clinical characteristics, religiously unaffiliated subjects had more lifetime impulsivity, aggression, and past substance use disorder.|publisher=[[American Psychiatric Association]]|author=Michael Martin|accessdate=13 November 2010}}</ref> Moreover, individuals with no religious affiliation had fewer moral objections to suicide than believers.<ref name="Religion"/>