Effects of Newspaper Stories on the Incidence of Suicide in Australia: a Research Note

This study investigated the impact of newspaper stories on the incidence of suicide in Australia. The effects of suicide stories appearing in 2 major metropolitan newspapers between January 1981 & December 1990 were examined. The findings show that the daily average suicide rate in Australia increases significantly after the publication & publicity of suicide stories in the Australian media; the rise tends to be primarily due to the increase in male suicide & not female suicide. Some plausible explanations of this finding are advanced. (14 refs.)