Research: Media and Suicide

Summary

Over 50 international studies have been conducted looking at the link between media portrayals of suicide and suicidal behaviour. There is strong support for the relationship between media reporting and
increases in completed and attempted suicide rates. These increases cannot be explained by suicides that may have occurred anyway, as they are not followed by commensurate decreases in rates.¹

• A major 1995 study of coverage in Australian newspapers found that rates of male suicide increased following reports of suicide, with actual male suicides peaking on the third day after the story first appeared.²

The way in which suicide is reported appears to be particularly significant. There is also evidence that the way suicide is reported can reduce suicide rates. Reporting that positions suicide as a tragic waste
and an avoidable loss, and focuses on the devastating impact of the act on others, has been linked to reduced rates of suicide.

• For example, a 1997 Australian study of reporting of Kurt Cobain’s suicide in a range of media found that rates of suicide among 15 - 24 year olds fell during the month following reporting of Cobain’s death. Significantly, media coverage of Cobain’s death was highly critical of his decision to suicide.³

Aspects of reporting contributing to risk

Systematic reviews of the international research evidence have observed that the imitation or ‘copycat’ suicide is more evident under certain circumstances.

• Risk is related to the prominence of the coverage, with repeated coverage and prominent news items most strongly associated with subsequent suicidal behaviour.^{4 5}
• It is accentuated when the reader or viewer identified with the person as either someone that is similar to themselves ⁶ or someone they admire such as a celebrity. ^{7 8 9 10}
• Certain subgroups in the population (e.g. young people and people experiencing a mental illness) may be particularly vulnerable.^{11 12} 
• Explicit descriptions of method or location have been linked to increased rates of suicide by that particular method or at that particular location.^{13 14 15 16}

Newspapers

• Higher rates of suicide have been reported during periods when suicide stories are run in newspapers. As noted above, in Australia, male suicide rates have been found to increase following reporting of suicide.¹⁷
• Higher rates of suicide have sometimes been recorded after celebrity suicides receive front page coverage. A 1984 US study and Austrian studies in 2001 and 2004 found a significant increase in the suicide rate or rates of suicide attempts in months in which articles were published on celebrity suicides.¹⁸
• Higher rates of suicide by a particular method such as burning or poisoning, have been found to follow the appearance of newspaper stories on a suicide by these methods.¹⁹
• The number of subway suicides and suicide attempts in Vienna dropped after the introduction of media guidelines led to less frequent reporting of suicides in these locations.²⁰

Film and television

• Some studies have found that rates of suicide increase following television news reporting of suicide. For example, a 1982 American study found that the national suicide rate increased for a period of 10 days following a news story on suicide.²¹
• Increases in the number of teenage suicides have also been recorded following news stories on suicide in international studies.²² Coverage of suicide of elderly people has also been linked to higher levels of suicide by older people.²³
• Several studies have found that the number of attempted suicides increased following the broadcast of a television movie or episode of a popular soap opera depicting suicide.²⁴
• Studies have also found a relationship between the method of suicide portrayed in a fictional film or television program, and increased rates of suicide using this method.²⁵
• On the other hand, appropriate portrayal may have a beneficial effect, according to a study which showed rates of suicide and suicide attempts by young people fell following the broadcast of telemovies showing the impact of suicide.²⁶

Music

• The association between music preference and suicide risk is not conclusive. However some studies have shown a link between fans of certain music genres and suicide rates.
• A study on the relationship between heavy metal magazine subscriptions and youth suicide rates in America found that the stronger the heavy metal subculture, the higher the youth suicide rate.²⁷ A survey of high school students showed that those who identified themselves as heavy metal fans had less strong reasons for living and more thoughts of suicide than their counterparts. ²⁸ 
• Some studies also showed a link between being a fan of country music and suicide rates, though this has been contested.²⁹
• A 1993 Australian study found that a preference for rock or heavy metal music was associated with suicidal thoughts, acts of deliberate self-harm, and depression, particularly for girls.³⁰

Books

Several studies found an increase in suicide and attempted suicide by asphyxiation, following the publication of a non-fiction book, Final Exit, which advocates euthanasia by poisoning or suffocation.³¹

Mixed media

• Several Australian studies have looked at the relationship between reporting of suicide across media and suicide rates. A Queensland study found a peak in suicide rates following extensive negative publicity about suicides in the psychiatric wards of a local general hospital.³²
• Suicide rates among young Australians aged 15-24 were significantly lower in the month following Kurt Cobain’s death than for corresponding months in previous years.³³
• In some instances, reporting of suicides in certain locations has led to safeguards being introduced in these places to prevent suicide.

A literature review conducted in 2005³⁴ indicated that the portrayal of suicide in films was widespread,
and that it has increased over time with depictions of the act becoming lengthier, more extensively modelled, and more likely to involve firearms. The findings also suggest it has become more romanticised, glorified and condoned, with young people being disproportionately represented in films with a suicide theme. The report is available at: www.mindframe-media.info 

 References

1 World Health Organization. (2008). Preventing Suicide:A Resource for Media Professionals. WHO: Geneva.

2 Hassan, R. (1995) Effects of newspaper stories on the incidence of suicide in Australia: a research note, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 29(3), 480-483

3 Martin, G. and Koo, L. (1997) Celebrity Suicide: Did the death of Kurt Cobain affect suicides in Australia? Archives of Suicide Research 3(3), 187-198

4 Hassan, R. (1995) op cit

5 Etzersdorfer E, Voracek M, Sonneck G. (2004). A doseresponse relationship between imitational suicides and newspaper distribution. Archives of Suicide Research, 8(2):137-145.

6 Stack S. (1990). Audience receptiveness, the media, and aged suicide, 1968-1980. Journal of Aging Studies, 4(2):195-209.

7 Wasserman, I., (1984) Imitation and suicide: a re-examination of the Werther effect,
American Sociological Review 49, 427-436

8 Cheng ATA, Hawton K, Lee CTC, Chen THH. (2007). The influence of media reporting of the suicide of a celebrity on suicide rates: a population-based study. International Journal of Epidemiology, 36(6):1229-34.

9 Yip PSF, Fu KW, Yang KCT, Ip BYT, Chan CLW, Chen EYH, et al. (2006). The effects of a celebrity suicide on suicide rates in Hong Kong. Journal of Affective Disorders, 93(1-3):245-52.

10 Stack S. (2005). Suicide in the media: a quantitative review of studies based on non-fictional stories. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 35(2):121-33.

11 Phillips, D.P., and Carstensen, L.L. (1986) Clustering of teenage suicides after television news stories about suicide, New England Journal of Medicine 315, 685-689;

12 Cheng ATA et al. (2007) op cit

13 Etzersdorfer E, Voracek M, Sonneck G. (2001). A dose-response relationship of imitational suicides with newspaper distribution. Aust N Z J Psychiatry, 35(2):251.

14 Etzersdorfer E, et al. (2004) op cit

15 Phillips, D.P., and Carstensen, L.L. (1988) The effect of suicide stories on various demographic groups, 1968-85, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 18, 100-114

16 Ashton, J.R. and Donnan, S. (1979) Suicide by burning: a current epidemic. British Medical Journal 2(6193), 769-770; Versey, M.J., Kamanyire, R. and Volans, G.N. (1999) Antifreeze poisonings give more insight into copycat behaviour [letter] British Medical Journal 319(7212), 1131

17 Hassan, R. (1995) op cit

18 Wasserman, I. (1984) op cit

19 Ashton, J.R. and Donnan, S. (1979) op cit

20 Etzersdorfer, E. and Sonneck, G. (1998) Preventing suicide by influencing mass media reporting: the Viennese experience 1980-1996, Archives of Suicide Research 4(1), 67-74; Etzersdorfer, E. and Sonneck, G. and Nagel Kuess, S. (1992) Newspaper reports and suicide [letter], New England Journal of Medicine 327(7), 502-503

21 Bollen, K.A. and Philips, D.P. (1982) Imitative suicides: A national study of the effects of television news stories. American Sociological Review 47(6), 802-809

22 Phillips, D.P. and Carstensen, L.L. (1986) op cit

23 Phillips, D.P.and Carstensen, L.L. (1988) op cit

24 Ostroff, R.B., Behrends, R.W., Lee, K. and Oliphant, J. (1985) Adolescent suicides modelled after television movie, American Journal of Psychiatry,142, 989; Ostroff R.B. and Boyd J.H. (1987) Television and suicide: comment, New England Journal of Medicine 316(14), 876-877; Ellis, S.J.,and Walsh, S. (1986) Soap may seriously damage your health, Lancet, (March), 686

25 Versey, M.J., Kamanyire, R. and Volans, G.N. (1999) Antifreeze poisonings give more insight into copycat behaviour [letter], British Medical Journal 319(7212), 1131

26 Gould, M.S. and Shaffer, D. (1986) The impact of suicide in television movies, New England Journal of Medicine 315, 690-694

27 Stack, S. and Gundlach, J. (1994) Country music and suicide: A reply to Maguire and Snipes, Social Forces 72(4), 1245-1248

28 Scheel, K.R. and Westefeld, J.S. (1999) Heavy metal music and adolescent suicidality: an empirical investigation, Adolescence 34(134), 253-273

29 Maguire, E.R. and Snipes, J.B. (1994) Reassessing the link between country music and suicide, Social Forces 72(4); Stack, S. and Gundlach, J. (1994) op cit

30 Martin, G., Clarke, M. and Pearce, C. (1993) Adolescent Suicide: music preference as an indicator of vulnerability, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 32(3), 530-535

31 Lavin, M.R., Martin, G. and Roy, A. (1992) Final Exit: the practice of self-deliverance and assisted suicide for the dying – comment, New England Journal of Medicine 326(13), 890; Marzuk, P.M., Tardiff, M.J. and Leon, A.C. (1994) Increase in fatal suicidal poisonings and suffocations in the year Final Exit was published: a national study, American Journal of Psychiatry 151(12)

32 Cantor, C.H., Tucker, P.J., and Burnett, P. (1991) The media and suicide [letter] Medical Journal of Australia 155(2), 130-131

33 Martin, G. and Koo, L. (1997) op cit

34 Pirkis, J., Blood, R., Francis, C., & McCallum, K. (2005). A Review of Literature Regarding Fictional Film and Television Drama Portrayals of Suicide. Melbourne, VIC: University of Melbourne.