13 Reasons Why Not: A Methodological and Meta-Analytic Review of Evidence Regarding Suicide Contagion by Fictional Media.

@article{Ferguson201813RW,
  title={13 Reasons Why Not: A Methodological and Meta-Analytic Review of Evidence Regarding Suicide Contagion by Fictional Media.},
  author={Christopher J. Ferguson},
  journal={Suicide \& life-threatening behavior},
  year={2018}
}
  • C. Ferguson
  • Published 14 October 2018
  • Psychology, Medicine
  • Suicide & life-threatening behavior
BACKGROUND For decades, policymakers and suicide prevention advocates have questioned whether exposure to media with suicide themes, whether television, movies, or music, could increase suicide risk among youth. To date, no clear picture has emerged, with data inconsistent AIMS: To access whether current evidence can support concerns that fictional media increases risk of viewer suicidal ideation. MATERIALS & METHODS Two broad forms of data consider the issue, namely society-level aggregate… 
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26 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
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Background Citations
7
Methods Citations
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26 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

One Less Reason Why: Viewing of Suicide-Themed Fictional Media is Associated with Lower Depressive Symptoms in Youth
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The MoVIES is available to scholars as a valid, reliable, and useful tool to estimate the amount of at-risk components of fictional suicidal behavior depicted in films, series, or television shows.
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Though some characteristics of televised fatal and non-fatal suicidal behavior were portrayed adequately, mental health related issues were overlooked, spectacular suicide methods were overrepresented, and the bereaved characters were mostly unidimensional revengers.
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The suicide increase in youth only and the signal of a potentially larger increase in young females all appear to be consistent with a contagion by media and seem to reinforce the need for collaboration toward improving fictional portrayals of suicide.
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The Netflix series 13 Reasons Why ( 13RW ) stirred up considerable controversy when it was first released in 2017. Although researchers across disciplines have published their work from different…
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