The DOI matches its Crossref record; 86 of the 86 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Suicidal Disclosures among Friends: Using Social Network Data to Understand Suicide Contagion
Open accessAbstract
A robust literature suggests that suicide is socially contagious; however, we know little about how and why suicide spreads. Using network data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we examine the effects of alter's (1) disclosed and (2) undisclosed suicide attempts, (3) suicide ideation, and (4) emotional distress on ego's mental health one year later to gain insights into the emotional and cultural mechanisms that underlie suicide contagion. We find that when egos know about alter's suicide attempt, they report significantly higher levels of emotional distress and are more likely to report suicidality, net of extensive controls; however, alter's undisclosed suicide attempts and ideation have no significant effect on ego's mental health. Finally, we find evidence that emotional distress is contagious in adolescence, though it does not seem to promote suicidality. We discuss the implications of our findings for suicide contagion specifically and sociology more generally.
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“Additionally, exposure to a friends’ suicidal thoughts was not sufficient to increase risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviors 1 year later.”
From The Social Roots of Suicide: Theorizing How the External Social World Matters to Suicide and Suicide Prevention (2021) · cites this paper as Mueller and Abrutyn, 2015
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“The study found that youth who did not know their friend had attempted suicide were not at higher risk of suicidality over time, though if they did know they were.”
From The Social Roots of Suicide: Theorizing How the External Social World Matters to Suicide and Suicide Prevention (2021) · cites this paper as Mueller and Abrutyn, 2015
In the citing paper
“Previous research also suggests suicidal behaviors are influenced by affiliation with peers who have engaged in suicidal behaviors,29”
From Evidence-based youth suicide prevention and intervention in pediatric primary care settings. (2024) · cites this paper as [29]
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Liu, Y., Leaune, É., & Pitman, A. (2026) · Archives of Suicide Research · doi:10.1080/13811118.2026.2635437 · Cited by 1
Suicide Risk After Social Network Exposure to Suicide Attempts in Adolescents and Young Adults
Mitchell, K. J., & Banyard, V. L. (2026) · JAMA Network Open · doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.30409 · Cited by 1
Network resources and educational outcomes among Mexican-origin youth
Morales, J. F., Diaz, C. J., Nobles, J. E., & Fletcher, J. M. (2021) · Social Science Research · doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2021.102694 · Cited by 1
Attention-based BiLSTM Network for Social Media Suicide Detection
Zeng, W., & Wu, Y. (2023) · International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence for Medicine Sciences (ISAIMS) · doi:10.1145/3644116.3644236 · Cited by 1
Cities, Psychosis, and Social Defeat
Sayanvala, F., Bornstein, L., Choudhury, S., Shah, J. L., Weinstock, D., & Gold, I. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.025 · Cited by 1
Culture, Mind, and Brain in Human Evolution
Stout, D. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.005 · Cited by 1
Liminal Brains in Uncertain Futures
Choudhury, S., & Berson, J. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.020 · Cited by 1
Standish, K. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-13-9737-0_1
Unhearing Online Suicide Talk: Becoming-Voice through the Use of Maddening Poetic Conversations
Canoy, N. A., & Topacio, A. M. D. C. (2020) · Journal of Constructivist Psychology · doi:10.1080/10720537.2020.1727392
“Lastly, in school settings, young people may be exposed to suicidal behaviors, ranging from ideation to attempt, which can make them more vulnerable to experience emotional distress (De Leo & Heller, 2008; Mueller & Abrutyn, 2015).”
BackgroundHadi, M. A., & Romadhani, R. K. (2020) · International Seminar on Guidance and Counseling (ISGC) · doi:10.2991/assehr.k.200814.003
“Practical information about how to commit suicide (for example, using slap straps to hang one-self, commit crimes, or complete suicide) is acquired through social learning [40].”
Social Neuroscience in Global Mental Health
Kohrt, B. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.024 · Cited by 1
Literary Analysis and Weak Theories
Moses, O. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.022
Experience-Dependent Plasticity in the Hippocampus
West, G. L., & Bohbot, V. D. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.019
Still, D. M. (2020) · UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona)
How Social Coordination and Cooperation are Achieved
Kirmayer, L. J., Worthman, C. M., Kitayama, S., Lemelson, R., & Cummings, C. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.013
Kirmayer, L. J., Worthman, C. M., Kitayama, S., Lemelson, R., & Cummings, C. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.001
The Co-emergence of Culture, Mind, and Brain
Kirmayer, L. J., Worthman, C. M., Kitayama, S., Lemelson, R., & Cummings, C. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.004
Kirmayer, L. J., Worthman, C. M., Kitayama, S., Lemelson, R., & Cummings, C. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.008
(2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.017
Kirmayer, L. J., Worthman, C. M., Kitayama, S., Lemelson, R., & Cummings, C. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108695374.029
On suicide-related reasoning of a suicidal personPreprint
Le, T.-T. (2021) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/d5q3f
Social Networks, Health, and Health Inequalities in Youth
Moor, I., Hoffmann, L., Mlinarić, M., et al. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-97722-1_8
Emerging Adults With a Suicide Attempt History Text More Emotionally With Peers than Family Members
Ladis, I., McGuinn, B. C., Glenn, J. J., Nobles, A., Barnes, L. E., & Teachman, B. (2024) · Emerging Adulthood · doi:10.1177/21676968241301460
“…of participants ’ text partners, but mental health problems often run in friend groups and in families, so we cannot rule out that the text partners tended to have their own mental health problems that would in fl uence the emotional tone of their texts (Hammen, 1991; Mueller & Abrutyn, 2015).”
Ditton-Phare, P., Skehan, J., Clark, M. M., Wilcox, J., & Fitzpatrick, S. (2025) · Health Promotion International · doi:10.1093/heapro/daae196
Socio-spatial patterns of suicide mortality in the United States
Tiwari, K., Charpignon, M., Giabbanelli, P. J., Kumar, P., & Rahimian, A. (2026) · Journal of Epidemiology and Population Health · doi:10.1016/j.jeph.2026.203468
Zhongying, Z. H. O. U., Wu, C., Yun, Y. U. N., Zhihua, X. I. A. O., & Ting, T. O. N. G. (2025) · Advances in Psychological Science · doi:10.3724/sp.j.1042.2025.2196
Zhang, J. (2026) · Social Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.1177/01902725261418321
“A robust line of research has found evidence of emotional distress contagion through exposure to others’ emotional distress (Mueller and Abrutyn 2015) and suicide contagion through exposure to suicides and suicide attempts (Abrutyn and Muel-ler 2014; Baller and Richardson 2009).”
Socio-Spatial Patterns of Suicide Mortality in the United StatesPreprint
Tiwari, K., Rahimian, M. A., Charpignon, M., Giabbanelli, P. J., & Kumar, P. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.6329818
Mental health spillovers and human capital development: Evidence from middle schools in China
Feng, J., Song, H., Zhang, Q., & Zhang, Y. (2026) · Journal of Comparative Economics · doi:10.1016/j.jce.2026.03.008
Long, T. J., Walter, D. A., Luce, A. J., & Schwartz‐Mette, R. A. (2026) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs16060843
“Moreover, large-scale, national survey studies find an increased risk of STBs for youth exposed to peers’ suicidal behavior (Abrutyn & Mueller, 2014; Bearman & Moody, 2004; Feigelman & Gorman, 2008; Mueller & Abrutyn, 2015; Randall et al., 2015; Swanson & Colman, 2013; c.f., Harris & Bettiol, 2017).”
Crudgington, H., & Andrews, J. L. (2026) · Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology · doi:10.1007/s00127-026-03164-7
Pitman, A., Nagori, A., Jarvis, R. R., Lowther, M., & Hawton, K. E. (2026) · SSM - Mental Health · doi:10.1016/j.ssmmh.2026.100720
Metadata
- Authors
- Mueller, A. S., & Abrutyn, S.
- Affiliations
- University of Memphis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Mueller, Anna S.
- Venue
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-02-25
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 131-148
- ISSN
- 0022-1465 (ISSN-L)
- 2150-6000
- PMC
- PMC4472458
- OpenAlex
- W2157573144
- Cited by
- 132
- References
- 86
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 9.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Health and Social Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Michigan State University
- National Institutes of Health
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P01- HD31921, P01HD031921)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
- Keywords
- suicide contagion, suicide attempts, suicidal ideation, emotional distress, mental health, adolescent social networks, disclosure, social networks, adolescent to adult transition
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Peer Group, Risk Factors, Social Support, Suicide, Disclosure, Suicidal Ideation
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