Celebrity Suicides and the Werther Effect - Evidence From Fin-de-Siècle Vienna

Background: Meta-analytic evidence indicates that there tends to be an increase in suicides in the period after news reporting on celebrity suicides. Importantly, this evidence relies on original research, including present-day celebrities who died by suicide. Aim: The present paper supplements this perspective by providing historical evidence, testing whether celebrity suicide news was related to increases in suicides in fin-de-siècle Vienna (1890-1913). Method: Significant figures (N = 58) were identified using the Austrian Biographical Dictionary. Civil death registers for the city of Vienna were used to identify suicides occurring in periods immediately after a given celebrity's death (and in the control periods). A content analysis assessed media attention. Results: Media attention was positively related to increases in suicides, a finding consistent with the Werther effect hypothesis. However, the analysis indicated that only one suicide with massive media attention drove this association - Colonel Redl's suicide in 1913. Limitations: Causal interpretations are limited. Conclusion: Colonel Redl's suicide seems to hold a special historical position. This historical evidence supplements the available meta-analytic evidence on celebrity suicide news effects occurring today.