Emura Yasushi, Kanata Sho, Hayashi Naoki, Matsumura Ken-Ichi, Akahane Akihisa, Tochigi Mamoru, Kunugi Hiroshi
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Emura Mental and Internal Medicine Hospital, Nemuro, Japan.
PLoS One. 2025 Aug 18;20(8):e0330343. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0330343. eCollection 2025.
The influence of media reporting on suicide and suicide attempts (SA) has been rigorously studied. Previous studies focused on characteristics like celebrity status, sex and age of suicide decedents, which may facilitate suicide and SA occurrence. These studies have informed guidelines for responsible media reporting. However, the nuanced effects on different sex and age groups of suicidal individuals remain less understood.
This study examined the association between the characteristics of initial suicide reports in four major newspapers and the differences in admission numbers (Δs) of SA patients across sex and age groups during pre- and post-article release one-week periods. Data from an Emergency and Critical Care Center from 2012 to 2019 were obtained through a review of medical records. Nonparametric MANOVAs were employed to investigate Δs for sex and age groups of SA patients in relation to sex and age of suicide decedents, incident types, and methods. Significant differences were evaluated using Wilcoxon tests.
A total of 1,205 articles on 676 suicide incidents and 1,081 SA admissions were analyzed. MANOVAs revealed a significant association between the Δs and the reported suicide methods. Δ for females was positively associated with reports of gas poisoning and other infrequently reported methods, whereas Δ for males was negatively associated with gas poisoning. Δ for younger patients was positively associated with infrequently reported methods and negatively with firearm discharge. No significant associations were found between Δ and sex and age of decedents or incident types.
This study demonstrates a differential impact of suicide news articles reporting gas poisoning, infrequently reported suicide methods, and firearm discharge, on SA patient admissions across sex and age groups. These differences may arise from variations in emotional responses to the suicide methods, which can be understood in both psychological and socio-cultural contexts. Further research is needed to clarify the determinants of differential influences to more effectively address and mitigate the risks of suicide and SAs.
媒体报道对自杀及自杀未遂的影响已得到深入研究。以往研究聚焦于自杀者的名人身份、性别和年龄等特征，这些特征可能促使自杀及自杀未遂事件的发生。这些研究为负责任的媒体报道提供了指导方针。然而，对于不同性别和年龄组的自杀个体的细微影响仍了解不足。
本研究考察了四大报纸上初始自杀报道的特征与文章发布前一周和发布后一周期间自杀未遂（SA）患者入院人数差异（Δs）之间的关联。通过查阅病历获取了2012年至2019年一家急诊与重症监护中心的数据。采用非参数多变量方差分析来研究SA患者性别和年龄组的Δs与自杀者的性别和年龄、事件类型及方式之间的关系。使用Wilcoxon检验评估显著差异。
共分析了676起自杀事件的1205篇文章以及1081例SA入院病例。多变量方差分析显示，Δs与报道的自杀方式之间存在显著关联。女性的Δ与煤气中毒及其他报道较少的方式呈正相关，而男性的Δ与煤气中毒呈负相关。年轻患者的Δ与报道较少的方式呈正相关，与枪击呈负相关。在Δ与死者的性别和年龄或事件类型之间未发现显著关联。
本研究表明，报道煤气中毒、报道较少的自杀方式及枪击的自杀新闻文章对不同性别和年龄组的SA患者入院情况有不同影响。这些差异可能源于对自杀方式的情绪反应差异，这在心理和社会文化背景中都可以理解。需要进一步研究以阐明差异影响的决定因素，从而更有效地应对和降低自杀及自杀未遂的风险。
