ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
The Werther Effect, the Papageno Effect or No Effect? A Literature Review.
Review in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- The representation of adolescent social media use: a systematic review and content analysis of UK newspaper articles.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the Impacts of Media Mental Health Awareness Campaigns on Young People.Health promotion practice · 2024Pooled it
- Towards the Influence of Media on Suicidality: A Systematic Review of Netflix's 'Thirteen Reasons Why'.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Attitudes Toward Suicide Are Associated With Lifetime History of Depressive Symptoms and Suicide Attempts Among Entertainment Industry Workers in South Korea.Psychiatry investigation · 2026Article
- The Contagion of Connection: Peer Networks and Adolescent Mental Health.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- Media contagion and self-immolation in Odisha: An emerging public health concern.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- Double Fatal Sodium Nitrite Poisoning-Double Homicide, Extended Suicide, or Suicide and Accident?International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- 'Fair and balanced?': quality of suicide-related reporting on major US cable news networks.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2025Article
- A "Papageno" Story Interview Suicide Prevention Intervention for Young Adults With Past-Month Suicidal Ideation: Uncontrolled Single-Group Pilot Study of Feedback and Acceptability.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Suicide Prevention in Youth.Current psychiatry reports · 2025Review
- Investigating the impact of parallel media engagement initiatives on suicide reporting in Canada and Israel.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Applying language models for suicide prevention: evaluating news article adherence to WHO reporting guidelines.Npj mental health research · 2025Article
- "Thrown in the deep end": a qualitative study of barriers secondary school staff encounter when addressing self-harm.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The impact of the live broadcast of Stromae's songEuropean psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Article
- Article
- Regulating community well-being through traditional mourning rituals: Insights from the Luhya People of Kenya.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2025Article
- Regulating community well-being through traditional mourning rituals: Insights from the Luhya People of Kenya.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2025Article
- How does news coverage of suicide affect suicidal behaviour at a high-frequency location? A 7-year time series analysis.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Words and Images Matter: Perspectives on Suicide, Mental Health Concerns and Alcohol and Other Drug Use Depiction.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This paper examines the association between media reporting on suicides and the subsequent suicides. Scientific papers from two online bibliographic sources Medline (PubMed) and PsycINFO were searched. The sample included 108 research papers examining the impact of different types of media stories on suicides. The review revealed that although the media can be a double-edged sword and serve both as a risk and a protective factor, the vast majority of research suggests that the relationship between the media reporting and the actual suicide rates is causal and real. Moreover, both the quantity and the quality of media reporting may trigger additional suicides in society. Simultaneously, research suggests that especially non-fictional presentations of celebrities' suicides in newspapers and on television news have the biggest influence on the subsequent suicides. Additionally, a strong modelling effect of media reporting on suicide is based on nationality, age, and gender. However, research shows that because a negative reporting style can be modifiable and improved, the media can also have an educative or preventive effect and can reduce the risk of contagion. Consequently, it is important to monitor the implementation of media recommendations for the reporting of suicide, and continuous education of reporters is needed.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.