The Werther effect of celebrity suicides: Evidence from South Korea

Since 2003 Korea has experienced the highest suicide rate among OECD countries. One of the societal risk factors that triggers suicide is the contagious nature of suicide. This paper empirically examines the effect of celebrity suicide reports on subsequent copycat suicides, using daily suicide data...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2021-04, Vol.16 (4), p.e0249896
Main Authors: Ha, Jeongmin, Yang, Hee-Seung
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age groups
Aged
Celebrities
Child
Female
Gender
Health risks
Humans
Imitative Behavior
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Middle Aged
People and Places
Regression models
Republic of Korea
Research and Analysis Methods
Risk analysis
Risk factors
Search engines
Social aspects
Social Media
Statistics
Subgroups
Suicide
Suicide - statistics & numerical data
Suicides & suicide attempts
Young Adult
Young adults
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Summary:Since 2003 Korea has experienced the highest suicide rate among OECD countries. One of the societal risk factors that triggers suicide is the contagious nature of suicide. This paper empirically examines the effect of celebrity suicide reports on subsequent copycat suicides, using daily suicide data and information of highly publicized suicide stories in Korea from 2005 to 2018. The findings from the Poisson regression model suggest that the number of public suicides soars after media reports on celebrity suicides. On average, the number of suicides in the population increased by 16.4% within just one day after the reports. Further analysis reveals that female and younger subgroups are more likely to be affected by celebrity suicides. Moreover, the public reacts more strongly to suicide incidents of celebrities of the same gender and even imitates the methods of suicide used by celebrities. This paper highlights the significance of careful and responsible media coverage of suicide stories to prevent copycat suicide. For policymakers, it is crucial to implement regulations not only for traditional media but also for new media where younger people can freely access unfiltered information.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0249896