Year: 1987 Source: American Sociological Review, v.52, (June 1987), p.401-412 SIEC No: 19880361

The author examined imitative suicide in relation to a taxonomy of celebrities. A taxonomy is described as are the means of compiling publicised celebrity suicides for each category. The amount of publicity given to suicides was positively correlated to the monthly incidence of suicide, but problems common to the celebrities & the suicidal population were not. Results suggest imitation specific to age, gender & race. (64 refs.) (RM)