A Dose-Response Relationship of Imitational Suicides With Newspaper Distribution

Sensational newspaper reports about suicide may trigger additional suicides. This brief article reports on such a case which occurred in October 1990 in Austria. The suicide of the owner of a famous Viennese hotel received extensive & dramatic coverage in a leading tabloid newspaper. Analysis of suicide statistics revealed a strong association between the distribution of this paper & an increase in the number of suicides by firearms. Nearly 40% of the variance in changes in suicide by firearm was attributable to differential distribution of the paper. There was no such association for the control period. (5 refs.)