Effect of 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA on suicide in areas surrounding the crash sites
Open accessAbstract
Background: The terrorist attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001 affected suicide rates in two European countries, whereas overall US rates remained stable. The effect on attack site rates, however, has not been studied. Aims: To examine post-attack suicide rates in areas surrounding the three airline crash sites. Method: Daily mortality rates were modelled using time series techniques. Where rate change was significant, both duration and geographic scope were analysed. Results: Around the World Trade Center, post-attack 180-day rates dropped significantly (t= 2.4,P= 0.0046), whereas comparison condition rates remained stable. No change was observed for Pentagon or Flight 93 crash sites. Conclusions: The differential effect by site suggests that proximity may be less important that other event characteristics. Both temporal and geographic aspects of rate fluctuation after sentinel events appear measurable and further analyses may contribute valuable knowledge about how sociological forces affect these rates.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Terrorist attacks appear temporally protective against suicide in exposed populations, and greater social cohesion may explain lower suicide rates in New York after September 11, 2001.
“Paradoxically, terrorist attacks appear to be temporally protective against suicide in exposed populations. Greater social cohesion may have explained lower suicide rates in the New York metropolitan area in the months after the September 11, 2001, attacks.28”
From Suicide (2020) · cites this paper as [28]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
A new look at the statistical model identification
Akaike, H. (1974) · IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control · doi:10.1109/tac.1974.1100705 · Cited by 51,879 · see citing works
Book Review: Time Series Analysis: Forecasting and Control
Geurts, M. D., Box, G. E. P., & Jenkins, G. M. (1977) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.2307/3150485 · Cited by 19,399 · see citing works
Time Series Analysis: Forecasting and Control.
Anderson, O. D., Box, G. E. P., & Jenkins, G. M. (1978) · Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series D (The Statistician) · doi:10.2307/2988198 · Cited by 5,368 · see citing works
ANew Look at the Statistical Model Identification
AKAlKE, H. (2011) · Cited by 4,177 · see citing works
Suicide: A study in sociology.
Durkheim, É. (2004) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/10406-003 · Cited by 3,944 · see citing works
Suicide: A Study in Sociology.
Alpert, H., Durkheim, É., Spaulding, J. A., Simpson, G. L., Solovay, S. A., Mueller, J. H., & Catlin, G. (1951) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2088294 · Cited by 3,910 · see citing works
Intervention Analysis with Applications to Economic and Environmental Problems
Box, G. E. P., & Tiao, G. C. (1975) · Journal of the American Statistical Association · doi:10.1080/01621459.1975.10480264 · Cited by 2,323 · see citing works
Box, G. E. P., Jenkins, G. M., & Reinsel, G. C. (2008) · Wiley series in probability and statistics · doi:10.1002/9781118619193 · Cited by 1,507 · see citing works
Psychological Reactions to Terrorist Attacks
Schlenger, W. E., Caddell, J. M., Ebert, L., Jordan, B. K., Batts, K. R., WILSON, D. H., Thalji, L., Dennis, J., Fairbank, J. A., & Kulka, R. A. (2002) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.288.5.581 · Cited by 1,137 · see citing works
Global City-Regions Trends, Theory, Policy
Scott, A. J. (2001) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198297994.001.0001 · Cited by 978 · see citing works
Arias, E., Anderson, R. N., Kung, H.-C., Murphy, S. L., & Kochanek, K. D. (2003) · PubMed · Cited by 313 · see citing works
Adequacy of Official Suicide Statistics for Scientific Research and Public Policy
Phillips, D. P., & Ruth, T. E. (1993) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1111/j.1943-278x.1993.tb00201.x · Cited by 147 · see citing works
Trends in adolescent suicide: misclassification bias?
Mohler, B., & Earls, F. J. (2001) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.91.1.150 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Resilient city: the economic impact of 9/11
(2006) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.43-5386 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Felton, C. J. (2002) · Journal of Heredity · doi:10.1093/jurban/79.3.429 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
Muslims in the Netherlands: Social and Political Developments after 9/11
Buijs, F. J. (2009) · Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies · doi:10.1080/13691830802704590 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
The Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, as Psychological Toxin
Starkman, M. N. (2006) · The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease · doi:10.1097/01.nmd.0000224905.61388.39 · Cited by 66 · see citing works
Effect of 7 July 2005 terrorist attacks in London on suicide in England and Wales
Salib, E., & Cortina‐Borja, M. (2008) · The British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.108.049650 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Effect of 11 September 2001 on suicide and homicide in England and Wales
Salib, E. (2003) · The British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.183.3.207 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
[Quality of suicide mortality data].
Jougla, É., PÉQUIGNOT, F., Chappert, J., Rossollin, F., Toullec, A. L., & Pavillon, G. (2002) · PubMed · Cited by 49 · see citing works
de Lange, A. W., & Neeleman, J. (2004) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1521/suli.34.4.439.53744 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Do we need to be cautious in evaluating suicide statistics?
Andriessen, K. (2006) · European Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1093/eurpub/ckl056 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
The influence of a major disaster on suicide risk in the population
Mezuk, B. R., Larkin, G. L., Prescott, M. R., Tracy, M., Vlahov, D., Tardiff, K. J., & Galea, S. (2009) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.20473 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Self-citationOutcomes of Enhanced Counseling Services Provided to Adults Through Project Liberty
Donahue, S. A., Jackson, C. T., Shear, K. M., Felton, C. J., & Essock, S. M. (2006) · Psychiatric Services · doi:10.1176/ps.2006.57.9.1298 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Pridemore, W. A., Trahan, A., & Chamlin, M. B. (2009) · Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior · doi:10.1521/suli.2009.39.6.659 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Use of Project Liberty Counseling Services Over Time by Individuals in Various Risk Categories
Covell, N. H., Donahue, S. A., Allen, G., Foster, M. J., Felton, C. J., & Essock, S. M. (2006) · Psychiatric Services · doi:10.1176/ps.2006.57.9.1268 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Deliberate Self-Poisoning in Ontario Following the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001
Detsky, M. E., Sivilotti, M. L. A., Kopp, A., Austin, P. C., & Juurlink, D. N. (2005) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.294.15.1900 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Gruber, J., Prinstein, M. J., Clark, L. A., Rottenberg, J., Abramowitz, J. S., Albano, A. M., Aldao, A., Borelli, J. L., Chung, T., Davila, J., et al. (2021) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/amp0000707 · Cited by 697 · see citing works
Fazel, S., & Runeson, B. (2020) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmra1902944 · Cited by 502 · see citing works
COVID-19 impacts on child and youth anxiety and depression: challenges and opportunities
Courtney, D., Watson, P., Battaglia, M., Mulsant, B. H., & Szatmari, P. (2020) · The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/0706743720935646 · Cited by 354 · see citing works
Keep Socially (but Not Physically) Connected and Carry on: Preventing Suicide in the Age of COVID-19
Courtet, P., Olié, E., Debien, C., & Vaiva, G. (2020) · The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.4088/jcp.20com13370 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
Trends in suicide rates during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in a major German city
Radeloff, D., Papsdorf, R., Uhlig, K., Vasilache, A., Putnam, K., & von Klitzing, K. (2021) · Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences · doi:10.1017/s2045796021000019 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Cobo, A., Porras-Segovia, A., Pérez-Rodríguez, M. M., Artés-Rodríguez, A., Barrigón, M. L., Courtet, P., & Baca-García, E. (2021) · BJPsych Open · doi:10.1192/bjo.2021.43 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Bergmans, R. S., & Larson, P. S. (2021) · Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech-2020-215333 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
- Authors
- Claassen, C. A., Carmody, T., Stewart, S. M., Bossarte, R. M., Larkin, G. L., Woodward, W. A., & Trivedi, M. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Rochester Medicine (US)
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Southern Methodist University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Claassen, Cynthia A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2010-05
- Volume
- 196
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 359-364
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W2096910327
- Cited by
- 74
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 14 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 2.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- September 11 attacks, suicide rates, World Trade Center, Pentagon, post-traumatic stress, mass casualty incidents, sentinel events
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Mid-Atlantic Region, New England, North Carolina, South Carolina, Suicide, Time Factors, West Virginia, September 11 Terrorist Attacks
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
