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13 reasons why, Netflix's controversial issue of teen suicide, was hit by a new wave of bad press.
Since before the first, experts have warned that its principle, which focuses on the suicide of a 16-year-old girl and described in detail, could lead to an increase in the number of teenage suicide attempts. Now, a new study suggests that the theoretical increase may have occurred. The authors of the study say they found a link between the release of 13 reasons why and an almost 30% increase in the suicide rate among young Americans.
On social networks, people were quick to announce the study as proof that 13 reasons why is just as dangerous as experts have feared. But it's a little more complicated than it seems.
The study, lead by Jeff Bridge of the National Children's Hospital, was conducted by several institutions, including the National Institute of Mental Health, and published on April 29 in the United States. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry of the Child and the Adolescent. And if the association it finds is quite overwhelming, it does not definitively establish a causal link between 13 reasons why and rising suicide rates.
So when I talked about studying to academics, all said that they continued to be wary of broadcasts like 13 reasons why – but they also said that the study is far from the proof that 13 reasons why is actually responsible for the death of teens. And that's partly because, whether or not there is such a relationship, it's almost impossible to prove it.
The worries about 13 reasons why come from the phenomenon of suicide contagion
Before creating Netflix 13 reasons why in 2017, he consulted suicide prevention expert Dan Reidenberg. The show was focused on a sensitive subject and Netflix wanted to deploy it responsibly.
Reidenberg told the Post-Standard Syracuse in 2017 that he was worried for 13 reasons why. He feared, he said, that this is exactly the kind of show that would convince vulnerable children to act in a suicidal way. He advised Netflix not to broadcast the series at all.
"But it was not an option," Reidenberg said. "It was very clear to me."
His fears stem from the problem of suicidal contagion, as it was called when the attention of the media is focused on significant suicide, pushing other people struggling with suicidal thoughts to commit suicide. It is a danger to which young people are particularly exposed.
As I wrote for Vox in 2018, the theory among the experts is that 13 reasons why Encourage people with suicidal thoughts to return to the idea of suicide, discuss it and become comfortable with it. And because 13 reasons why in particular, the death of her heroine as a sort of victory, a means for her to achieve popular immortality and triumph over her enemies, would be particularly dangerous.
There is a lot of data documenting the problem of suicide contagion when it comes to media coverage of real suicides. But there is much less data on whether suicidal contagion is so prevalent in fictitious representations of suicides, such as 13 reasons why. And according to the experts I've talked to, while the new Bridge and Company study is suggestive, it does not quite prove that the suicide contagion is what's happening with the series.
"Results must be interpreted with caution," says expert
The Bridge study analyzed data from disease control and prevention centers on suicide rates from 2013 to 2017. While youth suicide rates have been on the rise for years, the study found that than in April 2017, 13 reasons why suicide rates increased by 28.9% among American youth aged 10 to 17 years. (The increase was mainly due to boys, the change in girls was not statistically significant.) In all, the study estimates that the increase is responsible for about 195 "extra" deaths by suicide between April and December 2017 , beyond what the existing trends suggested.
"The results should be interpreted with caution," says Regina Miranda, a psychology professor at Hunter College in CUNY and director of the Youth Suicide Research Consortium. She told me in an email that she thought the study was "compelling and worrying," but that she also had many questions about her results.
Miranda notes that, in addition to rising suicide rates in April 2017, the study also revealed a rise in suicide rates in March 2017, before 13 reasons why debuts. The authors of the study attribute this increase to the release of the trailer of the series, but, underlines Miranda, Netflix has in fact announced 13 reasons why in January 2017, with a trailer.
She also points out that the boys were driving the tip, even though Hannah, 13 reasons whyThe tortured teenage heroine is a girl. "This was contrary to the expectations of the authors," says Miranda, "but this is consistent with the fact that boys are at greater risk of suicide deaths than girls and that girls are at higher risk of suicide attempts than girls. boys. "
Finally, she points out, it is possible that it was not the show as such that created the peak, but blanket a spectacle. "If the effect was generated by the first in the series," she asks, "was she watching the show or was she increasing media attention on the suicide generated by the show?"
The ambiguity is in part due to the fact that it is difficult to conduct any study that could establish a causal link between a show like 13 reasons why and an increase in suicide rates, says Megan Chesin, associate professor of psychology at William Paterson University and a member of the YRC, who has conducted studies on 13 reasons why is.
According to Chesin, ideally, researchers would expose a group of people to 13 reasons why and keep a control group out of the series, and then follow the suicide rate within both groups. An experience where 13 reasons why It is the only variable capable of establishing a causal link between the emission and the increase in suicide rates. But practically no one has been able to build such a study.
Chesin shows how Netflix released the series. It was a bingeable unit of 13 episodes, so that when the researchers were able to prepare a study on it, most of their potential subjects had already viewed the whole thing. "It's hard to bring people in before you watch them, and then follow them after watching them," she says.
Chesin and Miranda both say that this would be in line with the current best theory on suicide ideation for 13 reasons why lead to an increase in suicides among young people watching the show.
"Previous research has shown that adolescents are particularly vulnerable to media portrayals of suicide. Previous research also suggests that a sizeable proportion of parents of suicidal teenagers are unlikely to know that their children are thinking about suicide, "Miranda said. "If you combine this with an unsupervised show showing a death by suicide, there is a risk of harm to suicidal teens."
"Any realistic portrayal of suicide involving a young audience could increase the risk for young people who are already thinking about suicide," she added.
Chesin is in agreement.
"I think for some people, who are prone to suicide or able to identify with the character, there is enough risk based on the theory that it is worth worrying about," he said. she said. said.
But Chesin also suggested that there was a value in a show like 13 reasons why. The study she conducted last year revealed that among the students who watched 13 reasons why, suicidal ideation does not seem to increase. Instead, knowledge of the risk factors for suicide has done. Another Northwestern study, funded by Netflix, suggests that the show could be a good platform for engaging in suicide risk discussion.
"It's important to weigh," says Chesin.
Emissions on suicide will almost always exist, Chesin added. The question then becomes, she says, "How can we describe it in the least damaging way?"
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