NCJ Number
102945
Journal
New England Journal of Medicine Volume: 315 Issue: 11 Dated: (September 11, 1986) Pages: 690-694
Date Published
1986
Length
5 pages
Annotation
An analysis of juvenile suicides and attempted suicides in the greater New York area before and after the showing of four television movies dealing with suicide suggests that imitative behavior is a factor in juvenile suicides.
Abstract
The made-for-television movies, which were broadcast from October 1984 through February 1985, depicted a suicide pact between two male high school students, a male high school student who committed suicide after several interpersonal crises, a teenager's efforts to stop his father's suicide, and the joint suicides of a teenage couple. The sample consisted of a consecutive series of completed suicides by persons 19 years old or younger identified for an ongoing 4-year study by the Youth Suicide Research Unit at Columbia University. Attempted suicides by the same age group were determined from New York area hospitals for the study period. The mean number of suicide attempts in the 2-week periods after the broadcasts (22) was significantly greater than the mean number of attempts before the broadcasts. There were significantly more completed suicides after three of the broadcasts than the number predicted from previous patterns. Results are consistent with the hypothesis that some teenage suicides are imitative. 2 tables, 1 figure, and 29 references.