Year after year, the suicide rate is at its lowest in the United States during the holiday season, but nearly three-quarters of U.S. newspaper stories linking suicide and the holidays during the 2013-2014 season incorrectly said the opposite.
Suicide
The myth connecting suicide to the holidays persists
Nearly three-quarters of the newspaper stories mentioning suicide and the holidays over the 2012-2013 holiday period perpetuated the myth that more people commit suicide during that season, according to an analysis by the Annenberg Public Policy Center.
As the national adult suicide rate increases, news stories about suicides during the holidays grow in number
A common misperception about the end of year holidays is that more people commit suicide during this period than at other times in the year. Since 2000, the Annenberg Public Policy Center has been tracking press reporting about this widespread belief. In the millennium year of 1999, APPC identified over 60 stories that ran during
Use of effective coping strategies is associated with reduced suicidal ideation among both male and female youth
But males are more successful in reducing stress than females In a study recently published in Prevention Science, researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania found that youth who naturally use effective coping strategies to deal with interpersonal stressors (such as bullying) experience lower levels of perceived stress, feelings of
After 11 Years of Setting the Record Straight, Stories about Holiday Suicides Still Outnumber Those Debunking the Myth, APPC Study Finds
Since we began our annual study, the number of stories supporting the myth has declined. But surprisingly, the number of stories each year claiming that the link is real remains stubbornly difficult to eliminate.
Participating in Online Web Discussions Associated With Rise in Suicidal Risk in Young People, APPC Study Finds
A 24-year-old told readers of Reddit (www.reddit.com/r/suicidewatch) of his intention to end his life, a forecast that proved accurate (see http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2010/08/31/reddit-suicide-how-the-internet-can-help-and-hurt.html). A log of the comments posted to him between the time of his announcement and his death revealed that although many offered help, some openly encouraged him to go through with the act.
Popular PG-13 Movies Increasingly Portray Suicidal Behavior; No Difference in Highly Explicit Suicide Between R- AND PG-13-Rated Films
Annenberg Public Policy Center research analyzing 855 top box- office films from 1950 to 2006 shows that the portrayal of explicit and graphic suicide has tripled over that time. It also found no difference in the most explicit portrayals in films rated PG-13 versus those rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
Adolescent and young adult victims of cyberbullying at increased risk of suicide: Female youth especially at risk
Results released today from the National Annenberg Survey of Youth reveal that 1 out of 7 or 14% of adolescents and young adults have experienced being a victim of cyberbullying (see Table 1 below). Those who experience cyberbullying report higher rates of thinking seriously about suicide in the past year (see Table 2 below). The