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Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

nimh.nih.gov

21–30 of 264 posts

Re: Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

#21

Obviously horrific but a major failing of the study is that it doesn't state what percentage of the teens who committed suicide actually watched or were even aware of Netflix's "13 Reasons Why". The conclusions are drawn from very indirect evidence.

Exactly. I was wondering if I missed it, but I guess not. There is no indication in the research if these suicidal teens actually watched the show (or what percentage) prior to taking their own lives. I realize this is difficult evidence to gather, but without it, they're showing a pretty week correlation. There could be many other factors.

Re: Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

#22
post #10
post #2

Same reason that when they show the shooter's face all over the media and they give them tons and tons of attention, it typically spawns more copycats who are just lonely/sad/broken teens looking for the same attention. In the show, this teen's suicide was portrayed to have had an impact on many students/families/teachers etc for a very long time after the incident. It almost glorified the suicide and the methods of…

The scary thing is that both this article and the example you cited are used as reasons to limit constitutional freedoms: Limit second amendment more to prevent mass shootings. Limit first amendment more to prevent suicides. Really though, we should be focusing on the root cause: lonely/sad/broken people. Focus on helping/loving them and I bet suicide/mass shooting rates drop significantly.

> Limit second amendment more to prevent mass shootings.

> Limit first amendment more to prevent suicides.

The logical conclusion from social-contagion would be not to report or limit reporting, both for suicide and mass-shooting.

Re: Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

#23
post #10
post #2

Same reason that when they show the shooter's face all over the media and they give them tons and tons of attention, it typically spawns more copycats who are just lonely/sad/broken teens looking for the same attention. In the show, this teen's suicide was portrayed to have had an impact on many students/families/teachers etc for a very long time after the incident. It almost glorified the suicide and the methods of…

The scary thing is that both this article and the example you cited are used as reasons to limit constitutional freedoms: Limit second amendment more to prevent mass shootings. Limit first amendment more to prevent suicides. Really though, we should be focusing on the root cause: lonely/sad/broken people. Focus on helping/loving them and I bet suicide/mass shooting rates drop significantly.

“Limit the first amendment to prevent more shootings” is also a common refrain from many in the pro-gun crowd, as is “Limit the second amendment to prevent more suicides” is for many promoting suicide prevention. Likewise, focusing on more mental health (spending money) or closing down the mental hospitals (saving money) are options with different results that depend on political ideology.

Re: Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

#24
post #10
post #2

Same reason that when they show the shooter's face all over the media and they give them tons and tons of attention, it typically spawns more copycats who are just lonely/sad/broken teens looking for the same attention. In the show, this teen's suicide was portrayed to have had an impact on many students/families/teachers etc for a very long time after the incident. It almost glorified the suicide and the methods of…

The scary thing is that both this article and the example you cited are used as reasons to limit constitutional freedoms: Limit second amendment more to prevent mass shootings. Limit first amendment more to prevent suicides. Really though, we should be focusing on the root cause: lonely/sad/broken people. Focus on helping/loving them and I bet suicide/mass shooting rates drop significantly.

No one's talking about limiting freedoms. Just because you're technically allowed to do something, doesn't mean that you should. Yes, we can try to help people who feel alone, and we can vastly improve how we treat mental health. But we can also stop glorifying violence and suicide. Why would it be a bad thing for people to be more thoughtful about the impact their work has on society?

Re: Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

#25
post #6

"When researchers analyzed the data by sex, they found the increase in the suicide rate was primarily driven by significant increases in suicide in young males. While suicide rates for females increased after the show’s release, the increase was not statistically significant." I have watched the series. I wonder why males saw a significant increase in suicides if the show revolved around a female suicide. And, yes, I…

It’s possible that young females were just as affected (proportional to their baseline suicide rate), but that this wasn’t enough to be statistically significant, since young males commit suicide 5x as often. The article mentions that female suicide rates were higher too but that this wasn’t statistically significant.

Re: Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

#27
post #11
post #6

"When researchers analyzed the data by sex, they found the increase in the suicide rate was primarily driven by significant increases in suicide in young males. While suicide rates for females increased after the show’s release, the increase was not statistically significant." I have watched the series. I wonder why males saw a significant increase in suicides if the show revolved around a female suicide. And, yes, I…

Males commit suicide more, in general (in western countries). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_differences_in_suicide Edit - as for why there were more male suicides linked to this show, one reason for male suicides in western countries is the increasing marginalisation of men (whereas in countries with more female suicides or a more equal ratio, women are highly marginalised). If the show glorifies suicide as a…

Men are more successful, but women try more often.

Re: Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

#28

Potentially OT. Why do people write >"While suicide rates for females increased after the show’s release, the increase was not statistically significant." instead of >"Suicide rates for females did not increase significantly after the show's release." ? I have seen this quite often and it always seems a bit misleading to me. Edit: I should have written the 2nd version as "No statistically significant increase in [...…

Significance and statistical significance are two different things, and it's good for them to be distinguished.

Re: Release of “13 Reasons Why” Associated with Increase in Youth Suicide Rates

#29
post #6

"When researchers analyzed the data by sex, they found the increase in the suicide rate was primarily driven by significant increases in suicide in young males. While suicide rates for females increased after the show’s release, the increase was not statistically significant." I have watched the series. I wonder why males saw a significant increase in suicides if the show revolved around a female suicide. And, yes, I…

Simply mentioning it seems to trigger a rise.
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