Department of Social Work and Social Administration, 13th Floor, KK Leung Building, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China.
BMC Public Health. 2011 Nov 2;11:841. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-841.
Media reporting of suicide and its relationship with actual suicide has rarely been investigated in Mainland China. The "Foxconn suicides" is a description referring to a string of suicides/attempts during 2010, all of which were related to a giant electrical manufacturing company, Foxconn. This study aimed to examine the clustering and copycat effects of the Foxconn suicides, and to investigate temporal patterns in how they were reported by the media in Mainland China, Hong Kong (HK), and Taiwan (TW).
Relevant articles were collected from representative newspapers published in three big cities in Mainland China (Beijing (BJ), Shenzhen (SZ), and Guangzhou (GZ)), HK, and TW, together with searching intensity data on the topic conducted using the Baidu search engine in Mainland China. The temporal clustering effects of the Foxconn suicides and their media prominence were assessed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The media reports of the Foxconn suicides' temporal patterns were explored using a nonparametric curve estimation method (that is, the local linear method). The potential mutual interactions between the Foxconn suicides and their media prominence were also examined, using logistic and Poisson regression methods.
The results support a temporal clustering effect for the Foxconn suicides. The BJ-based newspapers' reporting and the occurrence of a Foxconn suicide/attempt are each found to be associated with an elevated chance of a further Foxconn suicide 3 days later. The occurrence of a Foxconn suicide also immediately influenced the intensity of both Baidu searching and newspaper reporting. Regional diversity in suicide reporting tempo-patterns within Mainland China, and similarities between HK and TW, are also demonstrated.
The Foxconn suicides were temporally clustered. Their occurrences were influenced by the reporting of BJ-based newspapers, and contagion within the company itself. Further suicide research and prevention work in China should consider its special media environment.
媒体对自杀事件的报道及其与实际自杀事件的关系，在中国大陆鲜有研究。“富士康自杀事件”是对 2010 年一系列自杀/自杀未遂事件的描述，这些事件都与一家名为富士康的大型电子制造公司有关。本研究旨在探讨富士康自杀事件的聚集和模仿效应，并调查中国大陆、香港（HK）和台湾（TW）媒体对这些事件的报道模式。
从中国大陆三个大城市（北京（BJ）、深圳（SZ）和广州（GZ））、香港和台湾的代表性报纸中收集相关文章，并使用中国大陆的百度搜索引擎搜索该主题的搜索强度数据。使用柯尔莫哥洛夫-斯米尔诺夫检验评估富士康自杀事件的时间聚集效应及其媒体显著性。使用非参数曲线估计方法（即局部线性方法）探索富士康自杀事件的媒体报道时间模式。还使用逻辑回归和泊松回归方法检查富士康自杀事件及其媒体显著性之间的潜在相互作用。
结果支持富士康自杀事件的时间聚集效应。发现基于 BJ 的报纸报道和富士康自杀/未遂事件的发生，均与 3 天后进一步发生富士康自杀的可能性增加有关。富士康自杀的发生也立即影响了百度搜索和报纸报道的强度。还展示了中国大陆内部自杀报告节奏模式的区域多样性，以及香港和台湾之间的相似性。
富士康自杀事件具有时间聚集性。它们的发生受到基于 BJ 的报纸报道的影响，以及公司内部的传染。中国进一步的自杀研究和预防工作应考虑其特殊的媒体环境。
