| Incubation period |
The time delay between aperson being infected with amicroorganism and theappearance of symptoms |
The time delay betweenfront-page publication ofsuicide news and increasingincidence of suicides. |
Varies from threedays to one month |
Not clear what factors influence the different findings of delay |
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• Any relationship betweenthe nature of the front pagenews and the duration ofincubation period? |
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• Any relationship betweenthe susceptible people’scharacteristics and theduration of incubation period? |
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| Immunization |
Sometimes people can be immunized against amicroorganism by beingexposed to weakened strainsof that microorganism |
• Can frequent exposure tominor suicide stories buildup a person’s resistance tothe idea of suicide and thenimmune him against suicide? |
NA |
Phillips’ questions remain. |
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• Potential equivalent ofbiological immunization isboredom or indifference towhat once would have been avirulent, powerful idea. |
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| Specific vs diffuse contagion |
Specific contagion means aspecific connection betweena particular microorganismand a particular disease.Diffuse contagion means abroad connection betweena particular stimuli and a groupof correlated or complementaryresponses. |
• Specific contagion: Aparticular type of suicidestories triggers one type ofsuicide and not another. |
• Media reports ofan unusual suicidemethod (e.g. charcoalburning suicide,railway suicide)were associatedwith increase ofsuicide rates in thismethod. |
Not clear what psychological or social mechanisms are underlying the association. |
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• Diffuse contagion: thesame suicide stories maytrigger not only suicide butalso accidents, murders, orother violent behaviors. |
• Phillips’ studiesexamined theassociation betweensuicide news andincrease in motorvehicle accident andairplane crash. |
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| Susceptibility to contagion |
Persons in poor biologicalhealth are particularly easyto be contracted withbiological contagion. |
Are persons who are inpoor cultural andpsychological health(e.g. anomic, have lowself-esteem and a pasthistory of failure) moresusceptible to suicidecontagion? |
Adolescents are oftenfound morevulnerable |
Did previous studies over sample adolescents but under-study other population groups? |
| Channels of infection |
Some biological diseases arespread more efficientlythrough one mediumthan another. |
Is newspaper more effectivein conveying suicidecontagion than television?Is word-of-mouth also aneffective channel oftransmitting suicide? |
• More studies useddata from newspaperpublication andfound significantassociation betweenthe publication andfollowing increasein suicide rates.Findings fromtelevision and othermedia are lessconsistent. |
Not clear whether and how multi-media channels can collectively influence suicide rates. Not clear how interpersonal, group, and mass media communication inter-act with each other on spreading suicide information. |
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• Cohort studies ofpeer influence onadolescents andstudies of time-spacespecific clusters ofsuicide suggest thatinterpersonal orgroup communicationmay also influenceindividual’s suicidalideation or/andbehaviors. |
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| Quarantine |
The spread of biologicalcontagion can be slowed orstopped through a quarantineof the infected individuals. |
The less publicity given toan act like suicide, thesmaller the contagious effectof this act on others. |
Decrease in publicitygiven to suicide newswas associated withdecrease in suiciderates in Austria. Somestudies evaluated theimplementation ofmedia guidelines ofsuicide news reportingand achieved mixedfindings. |
Not clear whether the change of report quality or quantity (or both) can influence suicide rates. |
