The Copycat Suicide in Thailand
Keywords:
copycat suicide, determinants of suicide rateAbstract
The objective of this research is to verify whether celebrity-copycat suicide occurs in Thai society. Furthermore, the study examines some socio-economic factors that affect decision-making in suicide. The equations of determinants of overall suicide rate and its categories are estimated. The suicide rates are classified by sex and age because factors affecting each type may be different. While the explanatory variables are manufacturing production index, unemployment rate, inflation rate, wage, divorce rate, birth rate, alcohol consumption rate, and dummy variables indicate lagged period of celebrity suicide. The dummy variables are categorized into cases of Thai celebrity, foreign celebrity, and Korean celebrity.
The cointegrating equations are estimated by the dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) method using the monthly data during 2014-2018. The regression equations of determinants of overall suicide rate and the suicide rates classified by sex and age indicate that celebrity-copycat suicides exist. It shows that a celebrity's suicide leads to an increase in the next-period suicide rate. Korean-celebrity copycat suicide is found in all categories of population. While Thai-celebrity copycat suicide is found among male and ageing population. The results also found that the socio-economic factors that affect the suicide rates are manufacturing production index, inflation rate, wage, and divorce rate. As an increase in divorce rate implies the breakdown of family, it is an essential factor that affects suicide rate in almost all categories of population.
According to the result of the study, the media coverage of celebrity suicide should be properly reported to prevent copycat suicide. The limitation of the study is that the celebrity-suicide cases included in the study are small due to the limitation of data. So, further study with more cases included would be beneficial.
References
Becker, G. S., & Posner, R. A. (2004). Suicide: An economic approach. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Chanagul, C. (2019). Determinants of Suicide Rates in Thailand. Journal of Community Development Research (Humanities and Social Sciences), 12(1), 15–24.
Chapple, A., Ziebland, S., Simkin, S., & Hawton, K. (2013). How people bereaved by suicide perceive newspaper reporting: qualitative study. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 203(3), 228–232.
Chen, Y. Y., Liao, S. F., Teng, P. R., Tsai, C. W., Fan, H. F., Lee, W. C., & Cheng, A. T. (2012). The impact of media reporting of the suicide of a singer on suicide rates in Taiwan. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47(2), 215–221.
Chen, Y. Y., Tsai, P. C., Chen, P. H., Fan, C. C., Hung, G. C. L., & Cheng, A. T. (2010). Effect of media reporting of the suicide of a singer in Taiwan: the case of Ivy Li. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 45(3), 363–369.
Choi, Y. J., & Oh, H. (2016). Does media coverage of a celebrity suicide trigger copycat suicides?: Evidence from Korean cases. Journal of Media Economics, 29(2), 92–105.
Durkeheim, E. (1897). Le Suicide. Paris: Felix Alcan. (in French)
Durkeheim, E. (1951). Suicide: a Study in Sociology. New York: Free Press.
Gould, M. S. (2001). Suicide and the media. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 932(1), 200–224.
Hamermesh, D. S. & Soss, N.M. (1974). An economic theory of suicide. The Journal of Political Economy, 82(1), 83–98.
Hong, S. C., & Lee, J. (2015). People on the verge of death: evidence from impacts of celebrity suicides. Applied Economics, 47(7), 710-724.
Jang, S. A., Sung, J. M., Park, J. Y., & Jeon, W. T. (2016). Copycat suicide induced by entertainment celebrity suicides in South Korea. Psychiatry Investigation, 13(1), 74.
Jeong, J., Do Shin, S., Kim, H., Hong, Y. C., Hwang, S. S., & Lee, E. J. (2012). The effects of celebrity suicide on copycat suicide attempt: a multi–center observational study. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 47(6), 957–965.
Johansen, S. & Juselius, K. (1990). Maximum likelihood estimation and inference on cointegration--with applications to the demand for money. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 52(2), 69-210.
Komchadluek. (2019). Revealing the clues of a young Buriram's suicide following KARA's Goo Hara. Retrieved 27 November 2019 from https://www.komchadluek.net/ (in Thai).
Kunrath, S., Baumert, J., & Ladwig, K. H. (2011). Increasing railway suicide acts after media coverage of a fatal railway accident? An ecological study of 747 suicidal acts. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 65(9), 825–828.
Lee, J. S., Lee, W., Hwang, J. S., & Stack, S. (2014). To what extent does the reporting behavior of the media regarding a celebrity suicide influence subsequent suicides in South Korea?. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 44(4), 457-472.
MacKinnon, J. G., Haug A. A., & Michelis, L. (1999). Numerical distribution functions of likelihood ratio tests for cointegration. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 14, 563-577.
Malasukhum, S. (2003). Relations between Exposure Behaviors of Newspaper Suicidal News and Suicidal Idealtion of High-Risked Psychiatric Patients in Bangkok (Master of Journalism Thesis (Mass Communication)). Bangkok: Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication Thammasat University (in Thai).
Martin, G., & Koo, L. (1997). Celebrity suicide: Did the death of Kurt Cobain influence young suicides in Australia?. Archives of Suicide Research, 3(3), 187–198.
National Suicide Prevention Center Khon Kaen Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital. (2020). Suicide Report. Retrieved 1 June 2020 from https://suicide.dmh.go.th/ (in Thai).
Niederkrotenthaler, T., Till, B., Kapusta, N. D., Voracek, M., Dervic, K., & Sonneck, G. (2009). Copycat effects after media reports on suicide: A population–based ecologic study. Social Science & Medicine, 69(7), 1085–1090.
Pattamajorn, R. (2009). Suicide: The Social and Cultural Phenomena. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 5(2), 7-28. (in Thai).
Punyasavatsut, A. (2012). Business Cycles and Suicide Rate. The 50th Academic Conference Kasetsart University (pp. 139-148). Bangkok. Kasetsart University. (in Thai).
Suh, S., Chang, Y., & Kim, N. (2015). Quantitative exponential modelling of copycat suicides: Association with mass media effect in South Korea. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 24(2), 150-157.
Tarde, G. (1903). The Laws of Imitation. New York: Holt.
The Korea Times. (2019). Rookie actor Cha In–ha's suicide raises concern of Werther effect. Retrieved 4 December 2019 from http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/
Visetworawong, S. (2000). A study of mass media influence on suicidal behavior (Master of Education Degree Program Major in Guidance and Counseling Psychology Thesis). Bangkok: Srinakharinwirot University (in Thai).
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
All opinions and contents in the CMJE are the responsibility of the author(s). Chiang Mai University Journal of Economics reserves the copyright for all published materials. Papers may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission from Chiang Mai University Journal of Economics.
ข้อคิดเห็นที่ปรากฏและแสดงในเนื้อหาบทความต่างๆในวารสารเศรษฐศาสตร์มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ ถือเป็นความเห็นและความรับผิดชอบโดยตรงของผู้เขียนบทความนั้นๆ มิใช่เป็นความเห็นและความรับผิดชอบใดๆของวารสารเศรษฐศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่
บทความ เนื้อหา และข้อมูล ฯลฯ ในวารสารเศรษฐศาสตร์มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ ถือเป็นลิขสิทธิ์เฉพาะของคณะเศรษฐศาสตร์มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่ หากบุคคลหรือหน่วยงานใดต้องการนำทั้งหมดหรือส่วนหนึ่งส่วนใดไปเผยแพร่ต่อหรือเพื่อกระทำการใดๆ จะต้องได้รับอนุญาตเป็นลายลักษณ์อักษร จากวารสารเศรษฐศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยเชียงใหม่
