Associations of Tabloid Newspaper Use With Endorsement of Suicide Myths, Suicide-Related Knowledge, and Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward Suicidal Individuals

Till, Benedikt; Wild, T.; Arendt, Florian; Scherr, Sebastian; Niederkrotenthaler, Thomas

doi:10.1027/0227-5910/a000516

Cited by 13 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Later stages of the self-stigmatizing process, namely, self-concurrence and harm-to-self, were not significantly influenced by watching short films of news at a single point in time. However, time spent reading tabloids was associated with higher endorsement of suicide myths, a lower level of suicide-related knowledge and a higher level of stigmatizing attitudes in recent studies [45]. Therefore, it can be postulated that extensive massive confrontation with SMC over a longer period of time might have a potent effect on self-stigmatization of people with mental illness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of stigmatizing media coverage on stigma measures, self-esteem, and affectivity in persons with depression – an experimental controlled trial

et al. 2019

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Background Stigmatization of people with mental illness is still a significant problem even in Western society. Media is an important vector for public messaging that may lead to stigma (and potentially counteract it). There is an ongoing debate about the impact of news with potentially stigmatizing content on people with depression. This experimental study aimed at investigating the direct effects media reporting could have on people with depression, namely, higher levels of stigma attitudes and negative affect, as well as lower levels of self-esteem and positive affect. Methods Experimental study; target sample size n = 180 patients; eligibility criteria: clinical diagnosis of depressive episode or dysthymia, aged 18–70 years, sufficient cognitive abilities and German language skills; exclusion criteria: acute psychotic, manic or hypomanic episode, addiction symptoms, or suicidal ideation; parallel assignment to one of three arms (each n = 60): watching a short film about a negative event relating to depression (experimental group), about a negative event without relation to depression (control group 1), or about a neutral event relating to depression (control group 2); primary outcomes: degrees of stigma attitudes (stereotype awareness, stereotype agreement, self-concurrence, and self-stigmatization); secondary outcomes: degrees of self-esteem, positive and negative affect; statistical analyses: general linear models with repeated-measures; one-way ANOVAs of the change in scores, followed by Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons; IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0. Results Significant group × time interactions in stereotype agreement (medium effect: η = 0.10) and negative affect (large effect: η = 0.26); the level of stereotype agreement increased significantly more in the experimental group than in control groups 1 and 2. The level of negative affect increased significantly more in the experimental group and in control group 1 than in control group 2. All other interaction effects were non-significant. Conclusion The present study allows statements about the direct effects of potentially stigmatizing media reporting on carriers of the stigmatized attribute, i.e., depression: Even single film presentations of familiar events that contain potentially stigmatizing content have an impact on stereotype agreement and negative affect. The impact of long-term exposure and change in other stigma-measures require a deeper understanding of stigma-processes. Potential explanations and implications for practice and future research are discussed. Trial registration Deutsche Register Klinischer Studien, Trial registration: DRKS00011855 . Registered 23 June 2017, retrospectively registered; for details see Additional file 1 . E...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of stigmatizing media coverage on stigma measures, self-esteem, and affectivity in persons with depression – an experimental controlled trial

et al. 2019

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“…While the mass media are a powerful resource for educating the public about suicide, the general public may develop misunderstandings about suicide that are caused by media misrepresentations. For example, Till et al 38 observed that the consumption of tabloid newspapers in Austria for daily information appeared to be an independent factor in the endorsement of misconceptions and myths about suicide. While we did not assess the articles for suicide myths, we did observe substantial disparities between suicide characteristics in the population and the media.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mass media representation of suicide in a high suicide state in India: an epidemiological comparison with suicide deaths in the population

et al. 2019

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ObjectivesSuicide rates in India are among the highest in the world, equating to over 200 000 suicides annually. Reports of suicides are a routine feature in major newspapers in India, and reporters may selectively present ‘newsworthy’ suicide stories. The aim of this paper was to systematically investigate whether mass media reports of suicides reflect the epidemiological data on suicide in a high suicide state in India.DesignWe undertook a content analysis study to extract sociodemographic data on suicides reported among nine of the most highly read daily newspapers in the high suicide southern state of Tamil Nadu between June and December 2016. A total of 1258 newspaper articles were retrieved containing reports on 1631 suicides. Two-tailed binomial tests on aggregate frequencies assessed whether the sociodemographic characteristics of suicides in the newspaper articles were different to the population suicide statistics for Tamil Nadu.ResultsWe identified some statistically significant discrepancies between suicide characteristics in the population and the media. Suicides involving females (p<0.001), those aged under 30 years (p<0.001), separated or widowed males (p<0.001), unmarried females (p<0.001), those using methods with a higher case fatality rate (ie, hanging (p<0.001), jumping off high structures (p<0.001) and coming under vehicles (p<0.001) and those who were students (p<0.001) or working in the agricultural sector (p<0.001) were significantly over-reported relative to their occurrence in the broader population. Suicides involving men (p<0.001), those aged over 30 years and above (p<0.001), those who were married and suicides by poisoning (p<0.001) were significantly under-reported relative to their occurrence in the broader population.ConclusionsThe suicide characteristics in the print media were not entirely representative of suicides in the broader Tamil Nadu population, which may lead the general public to develop misunderstandings about suicide in their state. The discrepancies we identified will inform tailored suicide prevention education for media professionals.

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“…Participants with majors of medicine, psychology, or a related discipline were found to have lower public suicide stigma. High educational levels have been found to be associated with increased suicide literacy and lower suicide stigma in a few previous studies [20,29,37]. Psychoeducational programs on suicide prevention also reduced suicide stigma [12,76,77], indicating that the impact of majors on suicide stigma may be mediated by the knowledge levels of suicide, which warrants further investigation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…A study among 3432 bereaved adults in the UK showed that previous experience of suicide bereavement increased their perceived stigma of suicide, which may lead to a higher risk of suicide ideation [36]. At the same time, being continually exposed to media depictions of suicide may increase one's endorsement of suicide myths and stigmatizing attitudes specific to cultures [37]. On the other hand, lower exposure to suicide is often associated with poorer suicide literacy [38], which has been found to be associated with stigmatizing views of people who attempt or die by suicide [38].…”

Section: Factors Associated With Suicide Stigmamentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceived Suicide Stigma and Associated Factors in Chinese College Students: Translation and Validation of the Stigma of Suicide Attempt Scale and the Stigma of Suicide and Suicide Survivors Scale

Chen

Batterham

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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This study aims to translate and validate two perceived suicide stigma scales, including the Stigma of Suicide Attempt Scale (STOSA) and the Stigma of Suicide and Suicide Survivor Scale (STOSASS) into Chinese language, examining the factor structure, and assessing the correlation between suicide stigma and a series of variables. After translating and back translating the STOSA and STOSASS, an online survey was administrated to 412 college students in China. These two scales were tested for their dimensionality in a series of confirmatory factor analyses. A series of regression analyses were conducted to examine the factors that are associated with perceived and public suicide stigma, including demographics, psychological distress, suicidality, suicide exposure, and perceived entitativity of suicide ideators, decedents, and survivors. The results showed that the two translated scales, STOSA and STOSASS, were reliable (Cronbach’s α = 0.79~0.83) and valid in Chinese contexts and it can be treated as unidimensional scales. Suicidality, exposure to suicide, and perceived entitativity of suicide-related persons were significantly associated with higher endorsement of public suicide stigma (SOSS Stigma, ps < 0.03), but not perceived stigma (STOSA, STOSASS). Higher levels of psychological distress were associated with both higher perceived and public suicide stigma (ps < 0.05).

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Associations of Tabloid Newspaper Use With Endorsement of Suicide Myths, Suicide-Related Knowledge, and Stigmatizing Attitudes Toward Suicidal Individuals

Abstract: The present findings confirm that readers of tabloids are an important target group for suicide education efforts.

Cited by 13 publications

References 38 publications

Effects of stigmatizing media coverage on stigma measures, self-esteem, and affectivity in persons with depression – an experimental controlled trial

Effects of stigmatizing media coverage on stigma measures, self-esteem, and affectivity in persons with depression – an experimental controlled trial

Mass media representation of suicide in a high suicide state in India: an epidemiological comparison with suicide deaths in the population

Perceived Suicide Stigma and Associated Factors in Chinese College Students: Translation and Validation of the Stigma of Suicide Attempt Scale and the Stigma of Suicide and Suicide Survivors Scale

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