Revisiting the Werther Effect in the 21st Century: Bullying and Suicidality Among Adolescents Who Watched  13 Reasons Why

Zimerman, André; Caye, Arthur; Salum, Giovanni Abrahão; Passos, Ives Cavalcante; Kieling, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2018.02.019

Cited by 34 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…6 Another questionnaire study found an overall decrease in suicidal ideation in 13RW viewers but an association between a past history of depression or suicidality with the opposite effect. 30 These findings are all largely consistent with experimental studies showing that identification and preexisting suicidality are the key mediators of risk. 28,29 That is, fictional depictions seem to have negative effects in only a vulnerable subset of those exposed.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Suicides in Young People in Ontario Following the Release of “13 Reasons Why”

et al. 2019

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Objective: “13 Reasons Why,” a Netflix series, included a controversial depiction of suicide that has raised fears about possible contagion. Studies of youth suicide in the United States found an increase on the order of 10% following release of the show, but this has not been replicated in other countries. This study aims to begin to address that gap by examining the relationship between the show’s release and youth suicide in Canada’s most populous province. Methods: Suicides in young people (under the age of 30) in the province of Ontario following the show’s release on March 31, 2017, were the outcome of interest. Time-series analyses were performed using data from January 2013 to March 2017 to predict expected deaths from April to December 2017 with a simple seasonal model (stationary R 2 = 0.732, Ljung-Box Q = 15.1, df = 16, P = 0.52, Bayesian information criterion = 3.09) providing the best fit/used for the primary analysis. Results: Modeling predicted 224 suicides; however, 264 were observed corresponding to 40 more deaths or an 18% increase. In the primary analysis, monthly suicides exceeded the 95% confidence limit for 3 of the 9 months (May, July, and October). Conclusion: The statistical strength of the findings here is limited by small numbers; however, the results are in line with what has been observed in the United States and what would be expected if contagion were occurring. Further research in other locations is needed to increase confidence that the associations found here are causal.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Suicides in Young People in Ontario Following the Release of “13 Reasons Why”

et al. 2019

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“…The choice of an electronic questionnaire was based on a recently published study , which demonstrates the interest for participation and the need for instruments that are compatible with the current reality of effectively reaching a large number of students in a non‐threatening environment. Despite its biases, far more students can be reached using this approach.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who attempts suicide among medical students?

Marcon

Monteiro

Ballester

et al. 2019

Acta Psychiatr Scand

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Objective To identify factors associated with a history of suicide attempt in medical students. Methods A Web‐based survey was sent out to a sample of medical students. A multi‐predictor Poisson regression was performed to identify factors associated with a history of suicide attempt. In addition, an elastic net regularization was used to build a risk calculator to identify students at risk for attempted suicide. Results A total of 4,840 participants were included in the study. Prevalence of suicide attempts in the sample was 8.94%. Risk factors associated with past suicide attempt in the multi‐predictor Poisson regression were as follows: female gender (P < 0.001); homosexuality (P < 0.001); low income (P = 0.026); bullying by university peers (P = 0.006); childhood (P = 0.001) or adult (P = 0.001) trauma; family history of suicide (P = 0.005); suicidal ideation within the last month (P < 0.001); daily tobacco use (P = 0.037); and being at severe risk for alcohol abuse (P = 0.023). Our elastic net model performed well with an AUC of 0.83. Conclusions This study identifies a number of key factors associated with a history of suicide attempts among medical students. Future longitudinal studies should assess the causal relationship between these factors and suicide attempts. Additionally, these results demonstrate that current available data on suicide attempts among medical students can be used to develop an accurate risk algorithm.

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“…Television and press play significant roles on suicide rates and methods (Wu et al 2012;Chen, 2011). The Werther effect (or Copycat suicide) can be observed when a famous person commits a suicide and hence after, suicides among the population increase (Zimerman et al 2018;Kim, 2013). Kapeckaite (2016) was investigating this effect in Lithuania after a famous actor's suicide in 2013.…”

Section: Risk Factors and Preventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suicides in Lithuania: Rates, Methods and Distribution by Age, Gender and Settlement, 2012-2016

Vasiljevaitė

Stasiuniene

Laima

et al. 2019

CBUP

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INTRODUCTION: According to the World Health Organisation regarding suicide rate, Lithuania was on the top in 2016 with 31.9 suicide events per 100 000 people of the population. This research was aimed at analysing the situation including methods of suicide and its distribution between different age, gender and settlement groups in Lithuania. METHODS: 4610 particular suicide cases were found and analysed from the given retrospectively collected data by the Hygiene Institute’s Register of Death Causes in Lithuania from 2012 till 2016. These cases have been categorised into age (10-19 years old, 20-69 years old and >70 years old), gender and settlement groups. Chi-squared and Fisher tests were used to analyse the associations between the suicide methods used, sex, as well as age. A significance level of p<0.05 was used. RESULTS: In total, 4610 suicide cases were registered in Lithuania in 2012-2016. People aged 20-69 years had the biggest proportion with 80%, followed by 16% for people older than 70 and 4% people aged 10-19. 82% of all cases were men. The most common method of suicides in all age groups was hanging, self-strangulation and self-suffocation; 92%. There is no statistical significant difference in methods used by the 10-19 years old group and above 20 years of age (20-70+).A difference was found between the groups under 70 years and above 70 years old. Moreover, the following difference was found between their genders (p=0.0002). In terms of using drugs and biological substances, women (54.24%) are more likely to commit suicide through these means than men in all age groups, while 100% of suicide methods by gas, steam or solvents were used by men. Though slightly more suicides were registered in cities, there was no statistically significant difference between people living in cities and in villages. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the fact that incidences of suicides are gradually decreasing every year, the situation is not yet satisfactory. The pattern almost has not changed for years – the most inclinable person to commit suicide is a 50-59 years old man living in a city and the most used method is still hanging.

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Revisiting the Werther Effect in the 21st Century: Bullying and Suicidality Among Adolescents Who Watched 13 Reasons Why

Cited by 34 publications

References 7 publications

Suicides in Young People in Ontario Following the Release of “13 Reasons Why”

Suicides in Young People in Ontario Following the Release of “13 Reasons Why”

Who attempts suicide among medical students?

Suicides in Lithuania: Rates, Methods and Distribution by Age, Gender and Settlement, 2012-2016

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