Suicide and Newspapers: A Replicated Study
SOL BLUMENTHAL PH.D., and
LAWRENCE BERGNER M.D.1
1 Commissioner of Health, Department of Public Health, Seattle, Wash.
To determine the importance of imitation in the act of suicide, the authors replicated a study by Motto that dealt with the relationship of suicide rates to the cessation of newspaper publication caused by a strike. Using the population of New York City during a partial newspaper strike, they compared the rates of suicide during this period with the rates during identical periods of three preceding years and two subsequent years. They found that while the overall suicide rate was not significantly reduced, the suicide rate of young women under age 35 was lower.
