This research studied the risk of copycat suicide after suicides by two idol singers and one politician. The research has shown a significant increase in the risk of copycat suicide after the suicide of idol singer J and S. There was also a common increase in the risk of copycat suicides after seven weeks of celebrity suicides. Women and those aged under 40 years are at a high risk of copycat suicide.
This study found that the risk of copycat suicide increased after the suicide of idol singer J and S. This is consistent with the results of existing studies regarding the presence of the Werther effect[9, 22] and the increase in copycat suicides after celebrity suicides[6, 23, 24]. A study by Jae-hyun Kim(2013) claimed that after actor Choi Jin-sil committed suicide, the Werther effect was observed for eight weeks[7]. This is in line with this research, which showed the presence of the Werther effect for more than eight weeks after a celebrity suicide. While the risk of copycat suicide increased after idol singer J 's and S’s suicide, the risk of suicide increased only in the seventh week after politician N's suicide. In this research, the Werther effect was observed only in the seventh week after politician N's suicide, while it existed for six weeks after the suicide of former president N[7].
Unlike the significant increase in suicide risk after idol singer J 's and S's suicide, the risk of suicide after politician N's suicide increased only in the seventh week. This result may be attributed to the profession of idol singer J and S, who are idol singers and are frequently exposed to media. Another reason is that idol singer J and S died after suffering from depression, while politician N committed suicide after he was suspected of receiving illegal political funds. The risk of copycat suicide may vary depending on the amount of media coverage, circumstances, and characteristics at the time of celebrity suicide[25]. Fu noted that only three of the 11 celebrities who committed suicide in Korea between 2005 and 2009 increased the risk of copycat suicide, arguing that the risk of copycat suicide depends on celebrity influence[25]. This is in line with the result of this study, which shows different risks of copycat suicide after the suicide of three celebrities.
The risk of suicide increased after seven weeks of suicide among the three celebrities. This may be due to the 49th memorial service, one of Korea's funeral cultures. The 49th memorial service is a Buddhist ritual held on the 49th day after a person's death. In Korea, memorial events are also held in line with the 49th memorial service, which may increase the frequency of mentions in social networking sites (SNS) and news coverage. During idol singer J 's 49th memorial service, a condolence message was posted on SHINee's official SNS, which is a group belonging to idol singer J 's A member of SHINee posted the message on his SNS. Furthermore, the politician N Foundation was officially launched at politician N's 49th-day memorial service. In addition, during idol singer S’s 49th-day memorial service, an enactment event of the “idol singer S’s Act” was held, which includes banning malicious comments.
This research has shown that women have a higher risk of copycat suicide after the suicide of three celebrities than men. This was consistent with previous studies showing that women's copycat suicides have increased since female celebrities suicided. Three weeks after the Korean actress C committed suicide in 2009, both male and female suicide rates increased; it was 35.2% and 118.3%, respectively, and the difference was more than tripled[7]. In addition, after the suicide of Taiwanese female singer IVY Li, the risk of copycat suicide was also higher in women[6]. Unlike this study, other studies have shown that men have a higher risk of copycat suicide after suicide among male celebrities. Fink studied the risk of copycat suicide following American actor Robin Williams' suicide, which was higher for men[23]. As idol singer J is an idol singer, the risk of copycat suicide by women was relatively high after idol singer J 's suicide. SHINee, a group to which idol singer J 's belongs, had a high percentage of female fans. According to the Melon Star Report, Korea's No. 1 music streaming site, 83% of SHINee fans were women[26]. The urge to commit suicide can become stronger if a celebrity is usually interested in suicide. Immediately after idol singer J 's suicide, there was an incident in Indonesia, in which someone mimicked idol singer J 's suicide while mourning the death of idol singer J [27].
The risk of copycat suicide was the highest among those aged under 40 years. In particular, the increase in copycat suicide risk among those aged under 40 years continued for more than 10 weeks. This may be because people under 40 years of age often learn about videos and articles related to the suicide of the celebrity through Internet searches or SNS such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. In 2018, 82.3% of individuals in their 20s and 73.3% of those in their 30s used SNS, which was higher than the numbers in other age groups: 55.9% in 40s, 39.6% in 50s, and 18.9% in 60s[28]. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the National Police Agency, and the Central Suicide Prevention Center intensively monitored information on the harmful effects of suicide online from July 18–31, and according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's press release, 17,338 suicide-related harmful information were reported, of which 77% were SNS[29]. In addition, the search for "suicide methods" has increased since an influential celebrity committed suicide[30].
The implication of this study is that Suicide Reporting Guidelines should be followed in all media. Previous research has shown that media reports of suicide can lead to copycat suicides[31]. Pirkis argued that media coverage could increase the risk of copycat suicide[32]. The risk of copycat suicide varies depending on the type of media, which tends to be associated with the television that provides information for the visual and auditory senses than newspapers and radios[32]. Fahey analyzed 1 million Twitter messages related to 18 suicides in Japan between 2010 and 2014 and studied the relationship between emotional responses and copycat suicides. His research claimed that when the number of suicide-related tweets increased among the youth (15–44 years old), the actual number of suicides increased[33].
Despite indiscriminate media reports of suicide that can lead to copycat suicides, Korea's compliance rate with the Suicide Reporting Guidelines was low[34, 35]. The Suicide Reporting Guidelines recommend not reporting specific suicide methods, tools, locations, and motives[12].
However, according to Kim Yeon-jong's study in 2005, the Suicide Reporting Guidelines have not been properly followed[34]. 66.7% of the media had reported suicide methods, 67.4% reported suicide locations, and 45.5% reported sites[34]. Lee Yu-ri analyzed the media's recommendation rate for suicide reporting since the Suicide Reporting Guidelines were revised in 2018. After idol singer S’s suicide, 80.4% of the media reported suicide locations, although no media provided suicide methods[35]. Although the media's compliance rate with the Suicide Reporting Guidelines has increased compared to 2005, the Suicide Reporting Guidelines are still not compliant. Despite the lack of research analyzing the compliance rate of Suicide Reporting Guidelines for SNS, it is expected to be lower than that of the media. In Australia, where the compliance rate of the guidelines and their monitoring have been relatively high[36], the actual suicide rate has decreased. This shows that compliance with the Suicide Reporting Guidelines can lead to suicide prevention. Therefore, all media, such as SNS, should follow the Suicide Reporting Guidelines, and the compliance should be monitored.
The limitations of this study are as follows: First, there may be ecological errors. An ecological error occurs when a conclusion obtained from the observing group is applied to an individual[37]. Through this study, it was difficult to determine whether people who committed suicide were affected by celebrity suicides. However, this study sought to overcome these limitations through a stratification analysis. Second, the study failed to include variables such as the medical history and socioeconomic levels of those who committed suicide, as revealed by previous research. Prior studies have shown that the economic level, mental illness, cancer, and the presence of chronic disease are related to suicide[38–40], but the data used in this study did not include variables such as the presence of disease or socioeconomic level. This is expected to be considered in future research.