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Increase in suicides the months after the death of Robin Williams in the US

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  • David S Fink
  • Julian Santaella-Tenorio
  • Katherine M Keyes

Abstract

Investigating suicides following the death of Robin Williams, a beloved actor and comedian, on August 11th, 2014, we used time-series analysis to estimate the expected number of suicides during the months following Williams’ death. Monthly suicide count data in the US (1999–2015) were from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (CDC WONDER). Expected suicides were calculated using a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving averages model to account for both the seasonal patterns and autoregression. Time-series models indicated that we would expect 16,849 suicides from August to December 2014; however, we observed 18,690 suicides in that period, suggesting an excess of 1,841 cases (9.85% increase). Although excess suicides were observed across gender and age groups, males and persons aged 30–44 had the greatest increase in excess suicide events. This study documents associations between Robin Williams’ death and suicide deaths in the population thereafter.

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  • David S Fink & Julian Santaella-Tenorio & Katherine M Keyes, 2018. "Increase in suicides the months after the death of Robin Williams in the US," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0191405
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191405
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    1. Tousignant, Michel & Mishara, Brian L. & Caillaud, Aline & Fortin, Veronique & St-Laurent, Danielle, 2005. "The impact of media coverage of the suicide of a well-known Quebec reporter: the case of Gaëtan Girouard," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(9), pages 1919-1926, May.
    2. Pirkis, Jane E. & Burgess, Philip M. & Francis, Catherine & Blood, R. Warwick & Jolley, Damien J., 2006. "The relationship between media reporting of suicide and actual suicide in Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(11), pages 2874-2886, June.
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    3. Joana M. Barros & Ruth Melia & Kady Francis & John Bogue & Mary O’Sullivan & Karen Young & Rebecca A. Bernert & Dietrich Rebholz-Schuhmann & Jim Duggan, 2019. "The Validity of Google Trends Search Volumes for Behavioral Forecasting of National Suicide Rates in Ireland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Victoria Carmichael & Rob Whitley, 2019. "Media coverage of Robin Williams’ suicide in the United States: A contributor to contagion?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-13, May.
    5. Tanja Laukkala & Alpo Vuorio & Robert Bor & Bruce Budowle & Pooshan Navathe & Eero Pukkala & Antti Sajantila, 2018. "Copycats in Pilot Aircraft-Assisted Suicides after the Germanwings Incident," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-8, March.
    6. Arendt, Florian & Haim, Mario & Scherr, Sebastian, 2020. "Investigating Google's suicide-prevention efforts in celebrity suicides using agent-based testing: A cross-national study in four European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    7. S M Yasir Arafat & Araz Ramazan Ahmad & Ayoob Kareem Saeed & Vikas Menon & Sheikh Shoib & Sujita Kumar Kar, 2022. "Quality of media reporting of suicide in Iraq," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 68(2), pages 443-448, March.

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