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Are Written Reports of Suicide and Seeking Help Contagious? High Schoolers' Perceptions 1
Author(s) -
Pearson Gibson Jeffie,
Rang Lillian M.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1991.tb00485.x
Subject(s) - vignette , respondent , psychology , publicity , mental health , help seeking , social psychology , clinical psychology , suicide prevention , psychiatry , poison control , medicine , medical emergency , marketing , political science , law , business
To assess contagion for suicide and seeking mental health help, 128 high school students read a short vignette about a teen under stress. Half of them were told that this teen knew someone in the community who had similar problems and had committed suicide, and half were told that the teen knew someone in the community who had similar problems and had sought help from a mental health professional. A 2 (Gender of Respondent) × 2 (Gender of Victim) × 2 (Vignette: Response to Stress) analysis of variance indicated a significant main effect for response, and a significant two‐way interaction for gender of respondent and response to stress. These high school students thought contagion occurred for suicide as well as seeking mental health help. Girls tended to be more responsive to seeking help, whereas boys were slightly more responsive to suicide. An implication is that publicity about seeking help may ameliorate suicidal contagion.