The social transmission of parasuicide: is there a modeling effect?

This article examines four hypotheses derived from social learning theory about the social transmission of parasuicide. The first of these, that parasuicides will have significantly more prior contact with suicidal behavior than matched general population controls, was tested using the Contact with Suicidal Behavior Schedule. There was a tendency for more controls than parasuicides to report nonintensive contact, although more parasuicides claimed intensive recent contact. Overall, lifetime contact did not differ between groups. The second hypothesis suggested that parasuicides who repeat the act will have significantly more prior contact with suicidal behavior. Support for this was almost wholly lacking. The third and fourth hypotheses concerned the relationship between prior contact and attitudes towards parasuicide (using the Case Vignette Instrument). The bulk of the evidence suggested, contrary to predictions, that more contact was associated with more unfavorable attitudes. It was concluded that empirical support in this study for the existence of a modeling effect in parasuicide was, at best, somewhat weak.