IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v246y2020ics0277953619307506.html

Anomie or imitation? The Werther effect of celebrity suicides on suicide rates in 34 OECD countries, 1960–2014

Author

Listed:
  • Lutter, Mark
  • Roex, Karlijn L.A.
  • Tisch, Daria

Abstract

Anomie and imitation have been prominent mechanisms explaining the Werther effect, i.e., the effect of celebrity suicides on a general population's suicide rate. This study presents a new approach to empirically disentangle both mechanisms. Imitation theory suggests that celebrities act as role models, and that the Werther effect is triggered by the status of the celebrity in question. Anomie theory, on the other hand, suggests that the Werther effect is triggered by the unexpectedness of the event. To this end, we empirically compare the effects of celebrity suicides with the effects of celebrities who died unexpectedly from causes other than suicide (accidents, illnesses, alcohol abuse). Based on language and page-link data from 3855 Wikipedia pages of the 495 celebrities who died from suicide between 1960 and 2014, we measure the status a celebrity has in a particular country and calculate the potential country-specific imitation effect of their suicide. In the same manner, we measure the status of celebrities who died unexpectedly from accidents, illnesses, or alcohol abuse to reflect anomie-related effects. We use these measures in an ecological study based on a time-series cross-sectional dataset for 34 OECD countries to assess their effects on a country's overall annual suicide rate. Fixed-effects analyses reveal that the country-specific status of celebrity suicides is associated with significant increases in overall suicide rates, while anomie-related, unexpected celebrity deaths are not associated with the overall suicide rates. The findings remain robust across a number of alternative specifications, such as controlling for further anomic factors at the macro level (divorce or unemployment rate, for instance). We conclude that the results support the imitation mechanism as an essential social explanation for the Werther effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Lutter, Mark & Roex, Karlijn L.A. & Tisch, Daria, 2020. "Anomie or imitation? The Werther effect of celebrity suicides on suicide rates in 34 OECD countries, 1960–2014," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:246:y:2020:i:c:s0277953619307506
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112755
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953619307506
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112755?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brainerd, Elizabeth, 2001. "Economic reform and mortality in the former Soviet Union: A study of the suicide epidemic in the 1990s," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 1007-1019, May.
    2. Bearman, P.S. & Moody, J., 2004. "Suicide and Friendships among American Adolescents," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(1), pages 89-95.
    3. Ed Hopkins, 2008. "Inequality, happiness and relative concerns: What actually is their relationship?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 6(4), pages 351-372, December.
    4. Morrell, Stephen & Taylor, Richard & Quine, Susan & Kerr, Charles, 1993. "Suicide and unemployment in Australia 1907-1990," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 749-756, March.
    5. Kirsten Stam & Inge Sieben & Ellen Verbakel & Paul M de Graaf, 2016. "Employment status and subjective well-being: the role of the social norm to work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(2), pages 309-333, April.
    6. Page, Andrew & Milner, Allison & Morrell, Stephen & Taylor, Richard, 2013. "The role of under-employment and unemployment in recent birth cohort effects in Australian suicide," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 155-162.
    7. Matsubayashi, Tetsuya & Sawada, Yasuyuki & Ueda, Michiko, 2013. "Natural disasters and suicide: Evidence from Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 126-133.
    8. Ueda, Michiko & Mori, Kota & Matsubayashi, Tetsuya & Sawada, Yasuyuki, 2017. "Tweeting celebrity suicides: Users' reaction to prominent suicide deaths on Twitter and subsequent increases in actual suicides," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 158-166.
    9. Nigel Kragten & Jesper Rözer, 2017. "The Income Inequality Hypothesis Revisited: Assessing the Hypothesis Using Four Methodological Approaches," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 1015-1033, April.
    10. Daniel Hoechle, 2007. "Robust standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 7(3), pages 281-312, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Zhongzhi & Xu, Yucan & Cheung, Florence & Cheng, Mabel & Lung, Daniel & Law, Yik Wa & Chiang, Byron & Zhang, Qingpeng & Yip, Paul S.F., 2021. "Detecting suicide risk using knowledge-aware natural language processing and counseling service data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christian Breuer & Horst Rottmann, 2014. "Do Labor Market Institutions Influence Suicide Mortality? An International Panel Data Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 4875, CESifo.
    2. Tomoya Suzuki, 2008. "Economic Modelling Of Suicide Under Income Uncertainty: For Better Understanding Of Middle‐Aged Suicide," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 296-310, September.
    3. Andrew Phiri & Doreen Mukuku, 2020. "Does unemployment aggravate suicide rates in South Africa? Some empirical evidence," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 78(4), pages 532-560, October.
    4. Veasna Trakem & Hongzhong Fan & Dyna Sam & Sokhan Chen, 2026. "How do agricultural trade liberalization, climate variability and change, and governance quality influence food security in ASEAN?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 18(2), pages 495-540, April.
    5. Meng, Chang & Ghafoori, Noorulhaq, 2024. "The economic impact of terrorism in South Asia," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    6. Misra, Shekhar & Mishra, Saurabh, 2026. "Environmental, social, and governance performances, media sentiments, and shareholder wealth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    7. Izaskun Zuazu, 2023. "Structural Change and Gender Sectoral Segregation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_1027, Levy Economics Institute.
    8. Ayhan, Fatih & Elal, Onuray, 2023. "The IMPACTS of technological change on employment: Evidence from OECD countries with panel data analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    9. Chimere O. Iheonu, 2019. "Governance and Domestic Investment in Africa," Working Papers 19/001, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    10. Shi, Ruoding & Isengildina Massa, Olga, "undated". "Double-Edged Sword: Liquidity Implications of Futures Hedging," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274106, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Raffaella Santolini, 2017. "Electoral Rules And Public Spending Composition: The Case Of Italian Regions," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(3), pages 551-577, July.
    12. Ran, Qiying & Yang, Xiaodong & Yan, Hongchuan & Xu, Yang & Cao, Jianhong, 2023. "Natural resource consumption and industrial green transformation: Does the digital economy matter?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    13. Martina Vukašina & Ines Kersan-Škabiæ & Edvard Orliæ, 2022. "Impact of European structural and investment funds absorption on the regional development in the EU–12 (new member states)," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 17(4), pages 857-880, December.
    14. Ding, Mingfa, 2014. "Political Connections and Stock Liquidity: Political Network, Hierarchy and Intervention," Knut Wicksell Working Paper Series 2014/7, Lund University, Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies.
    15. Yamamura, Eiji & Andrés, Antonio R., 2011. "Does corruption affect suicide? Empirical evidence from OECD countries," MPRA Paper 31622, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Younes Gholizadeh, 2020. "Causality Relationship between Energy Consumption and Economic Growth in the European Union Countries," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2020/12, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    17. Eduard Ary Binsar Naibaho & Amirah Mahdi Shahab, 2025. "The Role of Corporate Governance Mechanism and Sustainability Reporting in Firm Performance: Evidence on Resource Based Sectors," Advances in Management and Applied Economics, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 15(2), pages 1-4.
    18. Olaoye, Olumide O. & Zerihun, Mulatu F. & Al-Faryan, Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh, 2025. "Is resource endowment a trigger for conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa? Unveiling the moderating role of income inequality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    19. Hyojung Kang & Kshitiz Shrestha & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2026. "When Does Fiscal Decentralization Lead to Inclusive Growth?," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper2611, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    20. Skare, Marinko & Gavurova, Beata & Sinkovic, Dean, 2023. "Regional aspects of financial development and renewable energy: A cross-sectional study in 214 countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1142-1157.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:246:y:2020:i:c:s0277953619307506. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.