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A research study titled, Association Between the Release of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and Suicide Rates in the United States: An Interrupted Times Series Analysis, published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, has just received widespread publicity in the news media. It suggests that the beloved series was responsible for a 30% uptick in teen suicides in the months after its release in March of 2017.
On research studies, press releases, and advertising
Before you continue reading, please be aware that the much of the information in such news stories, especially in minor news outlets, come mostly from press releases disseminated by the researchers themselves or their agents, especially in minor news outlets. Those researchers can be more liberal with the information they present in the press releases than in their published journal studies. Furthermore, researchers want their studies to receive broad attention, so a great tactic is to conduct studies on popular topics, such as a famous movie or show like 13 Reasons Why. PT bloggers, myself included, have also discovered this tactic.
Results of the study
In a story on Yahoo News, we are informed that the researches said:
“Contrary to expectations, these associations were restricted to boys”
And...
The study cannot prove that the show was the cause for the rise in suicides [and] that they were unable to account for other factors that might have played a part in some deaths.
And...
But Jeff Bridge, the study’s lead author, criticised the depiction of suicide in 13 Reasons Why.
“The creators of the series intentionally portrayed the suicide of the main character. It was a very graphic depiction of the suicide death,” he said.
He added that such portrayals can trigger suicidal behaviour.
In other words, their study cannot prove that 13 Reasons Why caused the increase in suicides. However, the researchers believe it did, and they would like us to believe it, too. So what if their research failed to prove it? The researchers, who have strong beliefs about the effect of the show, believe it's their expert opinions as researchers that should count, so they provide it in their press releases, which are read by far more people than their journal articles. And that's what the readers come away with – the impression that the researchers' are representing the results of their research rather than their opinions regardless of the results.
Because many researchers believe that graphic violence in entertainment (including suicide) increases violence in real life, they scare the public about shows like 13 Reasons Why. Then the shows' producers need to go on the defensive doing damage control, to try to reduce the fear of the show, as well as prevent being sued by parents whose children may have committed suicide after watching the show.
Questions that should be asked about the research
To give credence to the hypothesis that the spike in suicides was caused by the show, they used murders as a control:
The authors added that the show’s release had no impact on the rate of murders.
Somehow, the fact that there was not a concomitant rise in murders during the period that suicides rose is supposed to indicate that 13 Reasons Why was responsible for the rise in suicides.
There is no logical reason for such a conclusion. If the study doesn't prove that the show increased suicide, how does saying that it didn't increase murder strengthen the case for increased suicide? But it sure sounds good. Meanwhile, the series contained a great deal of serious graphic violence, including rape and near-murders. If the show increased suicides, why not murders and other serious violence? And why didn't the researchers add rape statistics as a control, since rape was such a prominent element in the series?
And if the show did increase the suicide rate, why only among boys and not girls, since the suicide in the show was committed by a girl?
To answer these questions, the research study would have had to be far more complex. Among other things, it could have had looked into the percentage of the kids that committed suicide who actually watched 13 Reasons Why, or at least survey ones who attempted suicide. It could have surveyed girls and boys for their respective reactions to the show to see if they increased suicidal impulses or thoughts.
My own hypothesis
Anyway, let's assume that 13 Reasons Why actually did increase the suicide rate. We would need to explain why it raised it among boys and not girls. And it was not a small rise. The rise in overall suicides was about 30%. But since it rose only among the boys, the rate of increase of male suicides would be even higher. I will offer my own hypothesis, which would also need a good study to test it.
The reason it may have increased the suicide rate among boys is that the intended purpose of the series was successful. The writers and creators certainly weren't seeking to increase suicide and violence in real life. Quite the contrary. The story has Hannah Baker producing 13 tapes, each implicating another individual in her suicide because of the pain they caused her, virtually all unintentionally. The moral is that we should be more careful about how we treat others because we can cause them such torment that they would prefer to no longer live. Thus, it is intended to get us to reflect upon our own lives and how we have affected our peers and family members. It would raise our feelings of empathy and guilt and thereby reduce future mean behavior.
Hannah implicated girls in her pain, but boys even more so. Male viewers may have become aware of the harm they caused others, especially girls, and a small percentage of them may have felt such intolerable guilt that they decided to end their lives. Girls, on the other hand, are presented mostly as victims in the series, so female viewers would have far less reason to experience guilt about their own behavior.
It's only a hypothesis, but a reasonable one that deserves to be considered. So you researchers out there reading this, here is something you might want to contemplate and study.
The true value and meaning of 13 Reasons Why
My personal informed opinion is that entertainment, including violent dramas like 13 Reasons Why, serves a positive purpose in society, increasing empathy for others and thereby reducing overall violence and should be viewed by those who can handle it (not all entertainment is appropriate for all every individual). This is the prevailing view based on research as well as on the obvious fact that serious violence in society has been decreasing dramatically during the same decades that graphic violence in entertainment has been increasing.
I had previously written about 13 Reasons Why, pointing out that the true overall story is something no one else, including the creators, is apparently aware of, as nothing like this appears anywhere. 13 Reasons Why is actually about the devastation unleashed upon a community when parents of a girl who committed suicide file a bullying lawsuit against the school. The series makes the best case in existence against the wisdom of anti-bullying laws. I hope you will want to read it: “13 Reasons Why” Thrashes Anti-Bullying Laws
