Media impacts on suicide : A quantitative review of 293 findings

Objective. The literature on the possible impact of publicized suicide stories on suicide in the real world has been marked by considerable debate and inconsistent findings. Methods. The present study analyzes 293 findings from forty-two studies on the subject which were published between 1974 and 1996. Results. A logistic regression analysis determined that characteristics of the stories were key predictors of finding a copycat effect. Studies measuring the presence of either an entertainment or political celebrity suicide were 14.3 times more likely to find a copycat effect than studies that did not. Studies based on real stories as opposed to fictional stories were 4.03 times more apt to uncover an imitation effect. The medium of coverage was a significant predictor of copycat effects with televised stories being 82 percent less likely to affect suicide than newspaper-based stories. Some evidence was found for period effects, and stories were linked more often to the incidence of suicide attempts than suicide completions. The model correctly classified 79 percent of the 293 findings. Conclusions. Methodological differences among studies are strong predictors of differences in their findings