Media Influence and Youth Suicide: A Mixed-Methods Study of Risk and Prevention Strategies

Abstract

Recently, media's role in copycat suicides has become a matter of great importance in public health. Media influences perceptions of suicide through television dramas, movies, and online and in-person social media that are either positive or negative. There are many studies that have found a link between sensationalist media reporting and suicide rates which is particularly true for young people. The study discussed here is concerned with the multiplicity of influences of media on youth suicide which would include risk factors and possible protective factors. Based on research, the review identifies three areas in media portrayals of suicide focused on and outlined and are; critical area research based on existing scholarship and literature on the impact of media on youth suicide, a second volume of quantitative survey research conducted with university students and is considered as an assessment of how and to what degree the media pictures of portrayals made either by picture or by sources of stress, including social stressors like poverty, gender against women and boys, or no faith support, setting the suicide rate of youth. The study expresses an urgency for sound media processes, educational awareness programs, and public health endorsed preventive plans.