Citation

Ishii K. Soc. Sci. Res. 1991; 20(2): 188-195.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0049-089X(91)90016-V

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The effects of mass media on Japanese suicides at a national level and at a local level (Tokyo area) are examined using Granger's causality model. Most research on mass media effects has only partially analyzed mutual causation between mass media and society. In this paper, applying a time series model to Japanese data, the mutual causation between suicide news and suicides is investigated. After comparing Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) values of various time series models, a minimum AIC model is selected as the best model for each level. Results are basically consistent with the findings by Phillips (1986), showing that mass media have a strong one-way effect on suicides.