Do media coverage of suicides and search frequency on suicides predict the number of tweets seeking others for a suicide pact?

Abstract

We examined whether media coverage of suicides and frequencies of searching for suicide methods or suicide pacts predicted the number of users posting tweets seeking others for a suicide pact. Analyses of 6,119 tweets containing “suicide pact” posted on Twitter during a 6-month period revealed that the number of users posting tweets seeking others for a suicide pact had a positive association with media coverage of celebrity suicides, but not with that of suicide pact victims, and a greater positive association with the search frequency for suicide methods than for suicide pacts. We found that the search frequency on suicide methods was positively associated with media coverage of celebrity suicides, while that on suicide pacts was more strongly related to media coverage of suicide pacts.