Is suicide contagious? A study of the relation between exposure to the suicidal behavior of others and nearly lethal suicide attempts

This study sought to determine the association between nearly lethal suicid e attempts and exposure to the suicidal behavior of parents, relatives, fri ends, or acquaintances and to accounts of suicide in the media. The authors conducted a population-based case-control study in Houston, Texas, from No vember 1992 through July 1995. They interviewed 153 victims of attempted su icide aged 13-34 years who had been treated at emergency departments in Hou ston and a random sample of 513 control subjects. After controlling for pot entially confounding variables, the authors found that exposure to the suic idal behavior of a parent (adjusted OR = 1.5, 95% Cl: 0.6, 3.6; p = 0.42) o r a nonparent relative (adjusted OR = 1.2; 95% CI: 0.7, 2.0; p = 0.55) was not significantly associated with nearly lethal suicide attempts. Both expo sure to the suicidal behavior of a friend or acquaintance (adjusted OR = 0. 6; 95% CI: 0.4, 1.0; p = 0.05) and exposure to accounts of suicidal behavio r in the media (adjusted OR = 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1, 0.3; p = 0.00) were associa ted with a lower risk of nearly lethal suicide attempts. Exposure to accoun ts of suicidal behavior in the media acid, to a lesser extent, exposure to the suicidal behavior of friends or acquaintances may be protective for nea rly lethal suicide attempts, but further research is needed to better under stand the mechanisms underlying these findings.