Studies Link Rise in Teen Suicides to TV Programs

Television news and movies about suicide appear to trigger an increase in the number of teen-agers taking their own lives, according to two major studies published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The researchers urged social scientists, editors and broadcasters to examine how to present information about suicide in ways that might minimize the potential risk to youths.

“I’d like to see this become part of the consciousness of editors,” said one of the researchers, UC San Diego sociologist David Phillips. “I’d like people to be aware that there are consequences of the kinds of stories that are covered.”

No Conclusions

The studies offered no conclusions about what emotions or thought processes such TV news reports and movies might trigger among susceptible teen-agers.

“This is a matter of some urgency because the presumptive evidence suggests that fictional presentations of suicide may have a lethal effect,” said the authors of the study on television movies, Madelyn S. Gould of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Dr. David Shaffer of Columbia University.

The three major networks on Wednesday criticized the researchers’ conclusions and methodology and charged that the studies ignored the positive effects of broadcasts about suicide, such as the increased use of anti-suicide hot lines and counseling services.

“We feel that addressing these issues is much more important than ignoring them,” said George Schweitzer, vice president of communications for the CBS Broadcast Group. “Ignoring them would be irresponsible.”

Similarly, some suicide experts maintain that news stories and broadcasts are, at most, a minor factor in a wide array of little understood provocations that lead to suicide.

“I wish it were that simple, but I don’t think it is,” said Charlotte Ross, president of the Youth Suicide National Center in Washington.

Suicide has emerged in the last two decades as a leading cause of death among American teen-agers, with an estimated 1,700 suicides each year among those between the ages of 15 and 19.

The study assessing the influence of news reports on teen-age suicides was conducted by Phillips and his University of California, San Diego, sociology colleague, Lundie L. Carstensen. In previous research, Phillips has reported links between news stories or soap operas about suicide and rises in the national suicide rate in general, as well as a relationship between the homicide rate and media coverage of heavyweight prize fights.

Higher Incidence

The San Diego researchers’ latest study found that teen-age suicides nationally increased nearly 7% in the week after network broadcasts of news stories having to do with suicide. From 1973 to 1979, when 38 such stories were broadcast, 111 more suicides than expected were reported within a week of the broadcasts, they said.

There was no increase in suicides after 14 of the broadcasts. The largest increase--20 more deaths than average--came within a week after back-to-back network reports on the suicide of actress Jean Seberg and a feature story on teen-age suicides, Phillips and Carstensen said.

Though their research focused only on television news, Phillips said it has implications for all the news media because a story covered by the nightly news broadcasts also is likely to be reported by radio and the print media.

Teen-age girls appeared more susceptible to influence by news reports of suicide than boys, the study found. On average, suicides by girls rose 13% after such stories, while suicide by boys rose 5%.

In a commentary published with the studies, Harvard Medical School physician Leon Eisenberg warned against censorship as a strategy to counter any potentially harmful effects that TV reports or movies might have on teen-age suicide rates. But Eisenberg, like Phillips, also called on the media to consider the extent and detail of their coverage of suicides.

Four Programs

The study of television movies assessed the impact on teen-age suicide rates in metropolitan New York. It examined four programs that contained the theme of suicide that were broadcast between October, 1984, and February, 1985.

Data showed an increase in suicides and attempted suicides after three of the broadcasts: “Hear Me Cry,” a CBS afternoon special, and two nighttime dramas, NBC’s “A Reason to Live” and ABC’s “Surviving.” There were no reported suicides after the CBS broadcast of “Silence of the Heart,” a prime-time drama.

Overall, Gould and Shaffer said, attempted suicides by teen-agers rose 40% above the norm in the two weeks after each broadcast.

They recommend further study to determine what aspects of a broadcast can counter the suicidal urge.

Spokesman for each of the television networks, however, insisted Wednesday that Gould and Shaffer had ignored substantial evidence of just such positive results from the programs they studied.

Treatment Centers

CBS’ Schweitzer noted that extensive anti-suicide programming, including tie-ins with hot lines and treatment centers, had accompanied “Silence of the Heart” in October, 1984, the film after which there were no reported suicides.

“What is not told in these studies, and what is regrettable, is something that can’t be measured with accuracy--and that is the number of teen-agers who did not commit suicide, did not attempt suicide or in fact sought help as a result of the positive effects of these films or news reports,” he said.