The suicide rate is low during the holidays, but the myth of suicide during the holidays persists

As in most years that we have followed news reports about the myth that suicides spike during the holiday season, analysis of the past year again showed that more and more newspaper reports supported the false idea that suicides increase during the holidays. season than debunked it.

Over the past 25 years of studying this phenomenon, we have found more debunking of the myth than support for it in just over a third (nine years or 36%). Despite years of debunking by mental health researchers, journalists and others, the misconception that people are more likely to die by suicide during the holidays has shown remarkable persistence.

Last year, during the 2023-2024 holiday season, a search of media stories found 26 newspaper articles linking the holidays to suicide, with 15 (58%) confirming the myth and 11 (42%) debunking it.

“For more than a generation, we have been analyzing how the news media reports on the erroneous belief that suicides increase during the holidays,” said Dan Romer, research director of the university’s Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC). of Pennsylvania.

“The persistence of this myth suggests that its hold on the public’s imagination will be difficult to undo. Supporting the myth serves no useful purpose and can have a contagious effect on vulnerable people experiencing crisis and contemplating suicide during the holidays.”

The news media aren’t the only ones who often get it wrong. In a nationally representative survey we conducted in 2023, four in five adults incorrectly chose December, compared to several other months, as the “highest suicide time of year” – even though the other months possible choices. tend to have much higher suicide rates.

Associate the holidays with suicide

Some newspaper reports supporting the myth last year appeared in local, relatively smaller publications. Some cited the mistaken beliefs of well-meaning community figures. These all promoted the false myth:

• A Dec. 8, 2023, Denver Post story about four murder-suicides in two weeks quoted a local social services official as saying the “continued holiday season could be part of the reason why.”
• A columnist for the Advertiser-Gleam, in Guntersville, Ala., wrote on Nov. 28, 2023, about his annual trip to cut down the Christmas tree. The columnist wrote: “Statistics tell us that the number of suicides increases during the holidays. It’s easy to understand why. Every year we notice that another year has passed and we are a year older. Each year brings the loss of some we love and new additions we have grown to love…”
• Northern Sentry, the Minot Air Force Base (ND) newspaper, published a story from Air & Space Forces Magazine stating that the air base was investigating the deaths of three airmen in one month. The Dec. 1, 2023, story quoted a military spouse telling the Minot Daily News that the “holidays are such a vulnerable time for people, where we have one of the highest suicide rates in general.”

Our media analysis also found examples of stories that debunked the myth. Among these:

• In the Dec. 21, 2023 story, “These Tips Will Help You Navigate Your Holiday Blues,” the weekly New Pittsburgh Courier quoted a mental health professional at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis as saying, “It It’s a shame that the myth that suicide rates rise around the winter holidays persists, because research has shown that this is simply not the case. Let’s not sensationalize the risk of suicide, or give people the impression that this is a time when more people are dying by suicide.” The story added: “According to her, highlighting this false risk could harm and potentially harm those who have difficulty influencing it, making it seem like a more common occurrence.”
• A column by Dr. Barton Goldsmith on the Grand Island (Neb.) Independent, on December 9, 2023, begins: “There has long been a myth that suicide rates rise during the holidays. According to the Mayo Clinic, this is completely incorrect. What is true is that rates of depression and stress are increasing. Here are 10 solid resources to help you cope if Santa gives you some holiday blues too.

“As these two stories show, the holiday blues are a real phenomenon that could require attention for loved ones who may be sad this time of year,” Romer said. “People can feel sad around the holidays for many different reasons. There is no need to give people the false impression that others are dying by suicide, when in fact that could lead to infection.”

As we noted in our annual press releases about this research, national recommendations for reporting on suicide advise journalists not to promote information that could increase contagion, such as reports of epidemics or seasonal increases, especially if the claim has no basis in fact.

The recommendations, developed by journalism, mental health, public health and suicide prevention groups along with the Annenberg Public Policy Center, say reporters should consult reliable sources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC).

Journalists helping to debunk the myth of suicide this holiday season can also provide valuable resources for readers who are in potential crisis or know someone who is in potential crisis, including those from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center, the National Institute of Mental Health and the Substance Abuse Center. and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA.

The seasonal nature of the suicide rate

CDC data shows that the months with the lowest average daily suicide rates tend to be in the fall and winter: November, December and January.

In 2023, the last full year for which CDC data is available, December had the lowest average daily suicide rate: it was the 12th among the months, and November was the 11th. January came 5th. The months with the highest rates were August (1) and July (2).

This seasonal pattern for the suicide rate also applies in Australia. Romer last year conducted an analysis of average daily suicide rates over a 12-year period in Australia. He found that winter months in Australia had lower suicide rates, similar to those in the United States. Because Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, June was the month with the lowest average daily suicide rate, marking the start of winter there.

Releasing the Australian data last year, Romer said: ‘This helps explain the lower suicide rate we see here in December – it’s mainly due to the start of the winter season. Psychologically, because of the shorter and gloomier winter days in the US, we tend to associate them with suicide, but that’s not what actually happens.”

Not enough people know about 988

A major government initiative to help vulnerable people took place in July 2022, when the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline was rebranded as 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and 988 was implemented as the three-digit national telephone number. Research by the Annenberg Public Policy Center has shown that awareness of the 988 number is slowly growing, and that still too few people know it.

From the nationally representative panel of September 2024 questionnaireonly 15% of American adults are aware of the suicide hotline, down from 11% in August 2023. These are people who said they knew a suicide hotline number exists and, in an open format, said it is 988. .

“The help found on the 988 helpline can only save lives if those in need and their loved ones and friends know the number,” Kathleen Hall Jamiesondirector of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said last month when this finding was released. “If 988 is remembered as easily as 911, the nation will have reason to celebrate.”

How we conducted this media research

News and feature stories linking suicide to the holidays were identified through searches of the LexisNexis and NewsBank databases, combining the term “suicide” with words such as “holiday,” “Christmas” and “New Year” (with the addition of terms like “increase” in NewsBank) from November 15, 2023 through January 31, 2024. Researchers determined whether the stories supported the connection, debunked it, or were a coincidental reference made. Stories with a coincidental reference were eliminated. Only domestic suicides were counted.

APPC’s Sam Fox oversaw the coding of the stories, working with Lauren Hawkins. The coding was done by Penn students Kendall Allen, Nicholas Bausenwein, Ginger Fontenot, Sienna Horvath, Nia Peterson and Dylan Walker, who work at APPC’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute. Shawn Patterson created the data figures.