Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 1, 2025

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
Associations of Suicide Referents With Different Moral Connotation With Actual Suicides
Thomas Niederkrotenthaler1,2, Ulrich S Tran2,3, Benedikt Till1,2
1Public Mental Health Research Unit, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
Abstract:
Background: Different words used for suicide (so-called suicide referents) have different moral connotations, and neutral referents are recommended in media reporting guidelines. Aims: To assess how different referents in media reports are related to actual suicides. Method: Austrian news articles for each month between 2000 and 2021 (n = 276 months) were obtained from the Austrian Press Agency. Time series were modeled for media items referring to suicide as a crime [Selbstmord], an act of freedom [Freitod], or neutral connotation [Suizid]. Temporal associations with suicides in the month before, during, and after the reporting were examined. Results: Terminology referring to suicide as an act of free will [Freitod] was weakly associated with increases in total, male, and female suicides and with suicides in up to 64-year-olds in the same month. No other statistically significant associations were found. Limitations: No detailed content analysis of media reports was done. Conclusion: During times of prevalent use of referents suggesting suicide to be an act of freedom, there are small-sized increases in suicides. The simultaneous occurrence of this referent and suicides might reflect effects of a societal framing present in both the media and the community rather than a sheer media effect.
Related Concept Videos
Egoism and Altruism
Deindividuation
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Fundamental Attribution Error
The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison
Self-Discrepancy Theory

