Newspaper stories on suicide deaths encourage teens to commit suicide: Study

News reports on suicide cases prompt teens to attempt suicide, according to a study.
For long media regulatory authorities and health officials have warned newspapers and media to handle suicide news with sensitivity and avoid emotional puffery that might lead to copycat attempts. In a recent research, experts confirmed media's glorified reporting on suicide induces teens and adolescents to develop self-destructive tendencies.
They investigated 48 suicide cluster cases that occurred between 1988 and 1996 by youngsters aged between 13 and 20 years and searched for media coverage on individual suicides that occurred six months before each of these cases. Their analysis revealed that each community reported three to 11 suicide incidents within a period of six months of a report of suicide.
The stories on the front pages with headlines with the word 'suicide', carrying pictures, detailed description like time of death, place and method of suicide by teens and famous entities in politics and entertainment led to suicide outbreaks, the study found.
"Our findings indicate that the more sensational the coverage of the suicides, and the more details the story provides, then the more likely there are to be more suicides, "said Madelyn Gould, study author and researcher from the New York State Psychiatric Institute, reports the Live Science.
It was observed increased publication of these stories was followed by an additional suicide case within six months. But, the researchers were unable to determine the exact reasons that caused suicide clusters.
"Although we cannot show causality, "Gould said. "Our study indicates that media portrayals of suicide might have a role in the emergence of some teenage suicide clusters," reports the Medical News Today.
According to the data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the third leading cause of death and accounts for the death of nearly 4,600 people every year. Their previous survey reports showed16 percent of students studying in grades nine and 12 seriously considered taking this dire step. Every year about 157,000 youngsters aged between 10 and 24 receive treatment in emergency departments for self-inflicted trauma and injury.
The study recommends tabloid and news journalists and reporters to refrain from furnishing too much information and strictly adhere to the reporting guidelines.
The authors added," It makes intuitive sense that less regulated, more volatile, and more interactive media might have an even greater effect, particularly beacuse young people are not only major consumers of these forms of media, but also creators of their content," reports the Medical News Today.
More information is available online in the journal The Lancet Psychiatry.
May 02, 2014 09:21 AM EDT