Citation

Insel BJ, Gould MS. Psychiatr. Clin. North Am. 2008; 31(2): 293-316.

Affiliation

Columbia University, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (College of Physicians and Surgeons), New York, NY, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psc.2008.01.007

PMID

18439450

Abstract

The evidence to date suggests that suicide modeling is a real phenomenon, although of a smaller effect size than other psychiatric and psychosocial risk factors for adolescent suicide. Multiple lines of inquiry provide converging evidence, including studies on suicide clusters, media influence on suicide (particularly coverage of nonfictional suicides), and peer influence on suicidality. Despite variations in study setting and methodology, the body of literature is consistent with a modeling hypothesis. Although advances in documentation of suicide modeling have been made over the past decade, we are still confronted by unresolved issues regarding the underlying mechanisms. Prevention and postvention strategies can be optimized to avert modeling of suicidal behavior only once research addresses the complexities and uncertainties of this phenomenon.

Language: en