Lueck Jennifer A, Poe Madison
Department of Communication, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.
Department of International Development, University of Oxford, Oxford, England.
Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2023 Dec;53(6):1038-1054. doi: 10.1111/sltb.13004. Epub 2023 Sep 26.
A large body of literature has examined the Werther effect following news reports of suicide, yet much less attention has been paid to the protective Papageno effect. This research explored the causal relationships between news reports of real celebrity suicides (e.g., pop-rock star Chester Bennington) and real non-celebrity "peer" suicides (e.g., college student Madison Holleran) and intentions to seek help.
Two survey experiments confirmed successful experimental manipulation (N = 280) and tested behavioral theory, clinical indicators, and intentions to seek help (N = 641) in samples of college students (18-25).
Participants were motivated to seek help if they believed it could lead to positive outcomes, yet this was less likely among participants with depression. Exposure to news reports of non-celebrity suicides had a small positive effect on help-seeking intentions. Among participants with depression, news reports of celebrity suicides had a small positive effect on intentions.
This research could not establish Werther effects for either of the news reports. Exposure to news reports of non-celebrity suicides had a small positive effect on intentions overall, but young adults with higher levels of depression were slightly more motivated to seek help after viewing news reports of celebrity suicides.
大量文献研究了自杀新闻报道后的维特效应，但对具有保护作用的帕帕盖诺效应的关注却少得多。本研究探讨了真实名人自杀（如流行摇滚明星切斯特·本宁顿）和真实非名人“同龄人”自杀（如大学生麦迪逊·霍勒兰）的新闻报道与寻求帮助的意图之间的因果关系。
两项调查实验证实了成功的实验操作（N = 280），并在大学生样本（18 - 25岁）中测试了行为理论、临床指标和寻求帮助的意图（N = 641）。
如果参与者认为寻求帮助能带来积极结果，他们就会有动力去寻求帮助，但抑郁症患者中这种可能性较小。接触非名人自杀的新闻报道对寻求帮助的意图有微小的积极影响。在抑郁症患者中，名人自杀的新闻报道对意图有微小的积极影响。
本研究未能为任何一篇新闻报道确定维特效应。接触非名人自杀的新闻报道总体上对意图有微小的积极影响，但抑郁症程度较高的年轻人在观看名人自杀的新闻报道后寻求帮助的动机略强。
