The Werther effect after television films: new evidence for an old hypothesis

Abstract

SYNOPSIS In this study it was possible to prove the Werther effect in suicides after watching fictional models for the first time. A twice-broadcast (1981, 1982) six-episode weekly serial showing the railway suicide of a 19-year-old male student provided a quasi-experimental ABABA design to investigate differential effects of suicide imitation. Imitation effects were most clearly observable in the groups whose age and sex were closest to those of the model. Over extended periods (up to 70 days after the first episode), the number of railway suicides increased most sharply among 15-to 19-year-old males (up to 175%); the effect steadily decreased in the older age groups, so that no effect was observable for males over 40 years and females over 30 years. Also, the imitation effects remained detectable for longer periods in the groups closest in age to the model. The increases observed after the first and second broadcast for males aged < 30 years closely corresponded with the respective audience figures for the two showings.

Suicide attempts among children and adolescents

“…The effects of exposure to social media, as new phenomenon which influences suicide related behavior, has also been considered as a risk factor for suicide [17]. In a study done by Schmidtke et al in the United States, it was noted that the suicide rate increased by 175% before and after exposing young adults to television suicide [17,18]. In the analyzed period, the most suicide attempts were in winter months, and also in June.…”

La mortalidad por suicidios: México 1990-2001

“…La difusión imprudente de la información relacionada con las muertes por suicidio, su descripción precisa -incluso con presentación de imágenes reales-y el uso de términos tales como "suicidio exitoso" crean una situación de "moda" o imitación que podría influir en el aumento de la frecuencia de suicidios (16)(17)(18). Habitualmente, la información acerca de los suicidios en los medios simplifica excesivamente el problema y los atribuye a factores únicos, usualmente de carácter económico o sentimental.…”

Doding gevolgd door zelfdoding in Nederland

“…Ondersteuningen voor het copycat-effect zijn gemengd: sommige internationale studies bevestigen een dergelijk effect inzake zelfdoding (Frei, Schenker, Finzen, Ditmann, Kraeuchi & Hoffman-Richter, 2003;Jae-Hyun, Park, Nam, Park, Cho, Kim, Choi, Cho & Mesoudi, 2013;Schmidtke & Häfner, 1988;Wasserman, 1984), terwijl uit nationaal onderzoek een verband tussen publicatie en zelfdodingscijfers ontbreekt. Zo bleek uit een studie van Köpping en collega's (1989) dat er geen significante relatie was te ontdekken tussen de kenmerken van de berichtgeving -zoals illustraties, type krant, bekendheid van het slachtoffer, methode en suggestiviteit van het bericht -en het aantal verwachte suïcides volgend op de publicatie van het bericht.…”