Imitative Suicides: A National Study of the Effects of Television News Stories

This paper demonstrates that U.S. daily suicides increase significantly after highly publicized suicide stories appear on television evening news programs. Authors provide the first evidence that the increase in suicides occurs only after & not before the suicide story. In addition, they provide the first systematic study of the length of time a suicide story affects suicide; the effect probably does not extend beyond 10 days. These findings support & extend the literature on imitative suicide.