Suicide

An APPC analysis shows an uptick in news stories supporting the myth that the suicide rate increases during the holiday season.

For more than two decades, APPC has tracked how news stories erroneously linking the holiday season with suicide, despite national data showing that the suicide rate is largely seasonal & lower in winter.

The policy center's spring 2023 ASAPH report finds that women of childbearing age are more likely than other adults to doubt the safety of vaccination against Covid-19 and flu during pregnancy.

An analysis of weekly suicide data finds that seasonal fluctuations can explain controversial findings that the adolescent suicide rate increased with release of “13 Reasons Why."

The false claim that the suicide rate rises during the year-end holiday season persisted in some news coverage through the 2021-22 holidays, according to data analyzed by APPC.

While the nation was in the grips of the Covid-19 pandemic during last year’s holiday season, not many in the media were focused on possible links between the holidays and suicide trends.

The holiday season usually has the lowest suicide rates, but news accounts persist in supporting the holiday-suicide myth. While the COVID-19 pandemic has increased risk factors associated with suicide, media should be careful not to make unfounded claims about suicide trends.

APPC stands by its reanalysis showing no clear effect on adolescent suicide from the first season of the Netflix series "13 Reasons Why."