NCJ Number
102957
Journal
New England Journal of Medicine Volume: 315 Issue: 11 Dated: (September 11, 1986) Pages: 645-689
Date Published
1986
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Analyses of 12,585 suicides among American teenagers before and after news or feature stories about suicides televised from 1973 to 1979 indicated that television stories about suicide trigger additional suicides, perhaps because of imitation.
Abstract
Stories were selected according to four criteria: the story concerned suicide and appeared on ABC, CBS, or NBC news programs; group suicides and mixed stories where one person harmed others and then killed himself were excluded; stories about two different suicides that appeared within 7 days of each other were treated as one; and stories that occurred around national holidays were excluded. Results showed that the observed number of teenage suicides from 0 to 7 days after these broadcasts was significantly greater than the number expected. The more networks that carried a suicide story, the greater was the increase in suicides thereafter. These findings persisted after correction for the effects of days of the week, the month, holidays, and yearly trends. Teenage suicides month, holidays, and yearly trends. Teenage suicides increased far more than adult suicides after stories about suicide. The article assesses six alternative explanations of these findings. Tables and 28 references. (Author abstract modified)