The DOI matches its Crossref record; 29 of the 31 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Increase in suicides the months after the death of Robin Williams in the US
Open accessAbstract
Investigating suicides following the death of Robin Williams, a beloved actor and comedian, on August 11th, 2014, we used time-series analysis to estimate the expected number of suicides during the months following Williams' death. Monthly suicide count data in the US (1999-2015) were from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging ONline Data for Epidemiologic Research (CDC WONDER). Expected suicides were calculated using a seasonal autoregressive integrated moving averages model to account for both the seasonal patterns and autoregression. Time-series models indicated that we would expect 16,849 suicides from August to December 2014; however, we observed 18,690 suicides in that period, suggesting an excess of 1,841 cases (9.85% increase). Although excess suicides were observed across gender and age groups, males and persons aged 30-44 had the greatest increase in excess suicide events. This study documents associations between Robin Williams' death and suicide deaths in the population thereafter.
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“Well-known is how suicide rates went up when Robin Williams completed suicide (Fink et al. 2018).”
From The realities of Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada (2023) · cites this paper as Fink et al. 2018
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Role of media reports in completed and prevented suicide: Werther v. Papageno effects
Niederkrotenthaler, T., Voracek, M., Herberth, A., Till, B., Strauss, M., Etzersdorfer, E., Eisenwort, B., & Sonneck, G. (2010) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.109.074633 · Cited by 719
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Contributing factors to suicide: Political, social, cultural and economic
Stack, S. J. (2021) · Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106498 · Cited by 224
Suicide and Suicide Risk in Adolescents
Hua, L. L., Lee, J., Rahmandar, M. H., Sigel, E. J., COMMITTEE ON ADOLESCENCE, & COUNCIL ON INJURY, V. (2024) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2023-064800 · Cited by 205
Bridge, J. A., Greenhouse, J. B., Ruch, D., Stevens, J., Ackerman, J., Sheftall, A. H., Horowitz, L. M., Kelleher, K. J., & Campo, J. V. (2020) · Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2019.04.020 · Cited by 194
The Recent Rise of Suicide Mortality in the United States
Martínez‐Alés, G., Jiang, T., Keyes, K. M., & Gradus, J. L. (2021) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev-publhealth-051920-123206 · Cited by 158
Self-citationThe Werther effect, the Papageno effect or no effect? A literature review
Domaradzki, J. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph18052396 · Cited by 119
Metadata
- Authors
- Fink, D. S., Santaella-Tenorio, J., & Keyes, K. M.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Fink, David S.
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2018-02-07
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e0191405
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5802858
- OpenAlex
- W2785475303
- Cited by
- 156
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 7
- FWCI
- 25.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Columbia Academic Commons (Columbia University)
- Funders
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (T32DA031099)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Social Sciences › Health › Gun Ownership and Violence Research
- Keywords
- Robin Williams, celebrity death, suicide, excess mortality, celebrity influence, public figures, suicide rates, seasonal patterns, gender differences, age groups
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Drama, Famous Persons, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Suicide, United States, Incidence, Young Adult
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