The Effect of Television on National Suicide Rates

Horton, Hayward Derrick; Stack, Steven

doi:10.1080/00224545.1984.9924526

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Guided by this presumption, authors who use clustering to infer contagion point to proximity as their evidence; in essence, it becomes a circular argument (i.e., closely occurring events, however defined, must be related and thus there must be contagion ). A few studies argued that a suicide clustering effect could be explained by the poor management of an institution [25] or special economic environment [26], rather than individual-level social contacts. Therefore, using contagion as equivalent to cluster is not robust heuristically – that is, it does not open doors that could lead to new research – and inadvertently, it may have constrained research by not encouraging investigators to more deeply explore the phenomenon.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suicide Contagion: A Systematic Review of Definitions and Research Utility

Cheng

Silenzio

et al. 2014

PLoS ONE

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ObjectivesDespite the common use of contagion to analogize the spread of suicide, there is a lack of rigorous assessment of the underlying concept or theory supporting the use of this term. The present study aims to examine the varied definitions and potential utility of the term contagion in suicide-related research.Methods100 initial records and 240 reference records in English were identified as relevant with our research objectives, through systematic literature screening. We then conducted narrative syntheses of various definitions and assessed their potential value for generating new research.Results20.3% of the 340 records used contagion as equivalent to clustering (contagion-as-cluster); 68.5% used it to refer to various, often related mechanisms underlying the clustering phenomenon (contagion-as-mechanism); and 11.2% without clear definition. Under the category of contagion-as-mechanism, four mechanisms have been proposed to explain how suicide clusters occurred: transmission (contagion-as-transmission), imitation (contagion-as-imitation), contextual influence (contagion-as-context), and affiliation (contagion-as-affiliation). Contagion-as-cluster both confounds and constrains inquiry into suicide clustering by blending proposed mechanism with the phenomenon to be studied. Contagion-as-transmission is, in essence, a double or internally redundant metaphor. Contagion-as-affiliation and contagion-as-context involve mechanisms that are common mechanisms that often occur independently of apparent contagion, or may serve as a facilitating background. When used indiscriminately, these terms may create research blind spots. Contagion-as-imitation combines perspectives from psychology, sociology, and public health research and provides the greatest heuristic utility for examining whether and how suicide and suicidal behaviors may spread among persons at both individual and population levels.ConclusionClarifying the concept of “suicide contagion” is an essential step for more thoroughly investigating its mechanisms. Developing a clearer understanding of the apparent spread of suicide-promoting influences can, in turn, offer insights necessary to build the scientific foundation for prevention and intervention strategies that can be applied at both individual and community levels.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suicide Contagion: A Systematic Review of Definitions and Research Utility

Cheng

Silenzio

et al. 2014

PLoS ONE

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“…That is, the unit of analysis is the finding. Some studies contain a single finding on a single suicide story (e.g., Hills, 1995; Horton & Stack, 1984). Other studies contain more than 50 findings on more than 50 suicide stories (e.g., Kessler et al, 1988).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suicide in the Media: A Quantitative Review of Studies Based on Nonfictional Stories

Stack

2005

Suicide & Life Threat Behav

Self Cite

279

249

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Research on the effect of suicide stories in the media on suicide in the real world has been marked by much debate and inconsistent findings. Recent narrative reviews have suggested that research based on nonfictional models is more apt to uncover imitative effects than research based on fictional models. There is, however, substantial variation in media effects within the research restricted to nonfictional accounts of suicide. The present analysis provides some explanations of the variation in findings in the work on nonfictional media. Logistic regression techniques applied to 419 findings from 55 studies determined that: (1) studies measuring the presence of either an entertainment or political celebrity were 5.27 times more likely to find a copycat effect, (2) studies focusing on stories that stressed negative definitions of suicide were 99% less likely to report a copycat effect, (3) research based on television stories (which receive less coverage than print stories) were 79% less likely to find a copycat effect, and (4) studies focusing on female suicide were 4.89 times more likely to report a copycat effect than other studies. The full logistic regression model correctly classified 77.3% of the findings from the 55 studies. Methodological differences among studies are associated with discrepancies in their results.

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“…As can be seen in Table 1, the vast majority of studies have examined the impact of newspaper coverage of suicide. Fewer studies have examined the association of television coverage and subsequent suicides 11,14,16,26,28,33–37. While earlier findings were equivocal, recent studies support an imitative effect of television news reports on suicide.…”

Section: Nonfictional Suicide Storiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fewer studies have examined the association of television coverage and subsequent suicides. 11,14,16,26,28,[33][34][35][36][37] While earlier findings were equivocal, recent studies support an imitative effect of television news reports on suicide.…”

Section: Support Of Imitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suicide and the Media

Gould

2001

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

276

174

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Evidence continues to amass on the significant impact of media coverage on suicide. The research literature on the impact of news reports of nonfictional suicides as well as fictional suicide stories is reviewed in order to determine the nature and scope of the influence of the mass media on suicide. The current review, building upon earlier reviews, is limited to English language publications or English translations of articles and/or abstracts. The interactive factors that may moderate the impact of media stories are also reviewed. Such interactive factors include characteristics of the stories (agent), individuals' attributes (host), and social context of the stories (environment). Recommendations are presented for the reporting of suicide stories, which may minimize the risk of imitative suicides. The media's positive role in educating the public about risks for suicide and shaping attitudes about suicide is emphasized. In summary, the existence of suicide contagion no longer needs to be questioned. We should refocus our research efforts on identifying which particular story components promote contagion under which circumstances and which components are useful for preventive programming.

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The Effect of Television on National Suicide Rates

Cited by 21 publications

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Suicide Contagion: A Systematic Review of Definitions and Research Utility

Suicide Contagion: A Systematic Review of Definitions and Research Utility

Suicide in the Media: A Quantitative Review of Studies Based on Nonfictional Stories

Suicide and the Media

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