Is there any link between celebrity suicide and further suicidal behaviour in India?

Abstract

Little is known about the factors that determine vulnerability to subsequent suicide in the community following a celebrity suicide. Our objective was to investigate the link between an alleged celebrity suicide and further suicidal behaviour in the community in India. Relevant news articles that reported suicidal behaviour in the population were retrieved from online news portals of regional and English language newspapers in the immediate month following the actor's death. A deductive analysis of the retrieved suicide news articles was carried out using a pre-designed data extraction form. A total of 1160 relevant news articles were identified from the local language (n = 985) and English (n = 175) newspapers. For a sizeable percentage of these reports (n = 65, 5.6%), the media reported links with celebrity suicide. Odds of subsequent suicide among young (Odds Ratios [OR] - 9.24), female (OR - 1.94), unemployed (OR - 7.26), those without precipitating life events (OR - 2.94) or mental illness (OR - 1.69) were higher among those with link to celebrity suicide; likewise, odds of death by hanging (OR - 49.84) and leaving a suicide note (OR - 2.03) were higher among those linked to celebrity suicide. English newspapers (OR - 4.23) were more likely to report events linked to celebrity suicide than local language newspapers. Persons who died by suicide by hanging after a celebrity suicide are more likely to be young, female, unemployed, have a mental disorder or precipitating life events. Suicide prevention efforts must focus on this group and prevent the same method of suicide like that of the celebrity.