Empirical Analysis of Suicide Prevention Policies

• Project/Area Number: 17H02541
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Public finance/Public economy
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Ueda Michiko 早稲田大学, 政治経済学術院, 准教授 (50791357)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 山川 香織 東海学園大学, 心理学部, 助教 (00742131) ; 松林 哲也 大阪大学, 国際公共政策研究科, 准教授 (40721949)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
• Budget Amount: ¥16,250,000 (Direct Cost: ¥12,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥3,750,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥4,810,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,110,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥7,410,000 (Direct Cost: ¥5,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,710,000)
• Keywords: 自殺対策 / 自殺 / メディア / テキスト分析 / ツイッター / 自殺予防 / 公共政策 / 心理学 / ソーシャルメディア / 経済政策 / 政治学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Socioeconomic factors are considered to be important　determinants of suicide, but how exactly these factors affect people’s decision to take their own life still remain understudied. This project undertook four projects that are related to socioeconomic factors behind suicide, focusing on school-related factors, media reporting on suicide, government economic policies, and railway suicide.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ソーシャルメディア上の情報が人々の自殺に関する行動に与える影響については解明が始まったばかりであり、新しいメディアでの自殺関連情報の実態及びその影響を明らかにする本研究の研究成果は国際的に見ても貴重な学術的意義を持つと考えられる。また、ソーシャルメディア上での自殺に関する情報をどの程度規制するかはサービス提供者や各国政府が未だに対応を決めかねている状態であり、本研究は今後の自殺対策の立案・実施に資する科学的根拠を提供することができると考えられる。

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] メルボルン大学(オーストラリア)
• [Int'l Joint Research] ウィーン医科大学(オーストリア)
• [Journal Article] Government spending, recession, and suicide: evidence from Japan (2020)
  • Author(s): Matsubayashi Tetsuya、Sekijima Kozue、Ueda Michiko
  • Journal Title: BMC Public Health Volume: 20 Issue: 1
  • DOI: 10.1186/s12889-020-8264-1
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Assessing the Quality of Media Reporting of Suicide Deaths in Bangladesh Against World Health Organization Guidelines (2020)
  • Author(s): Arafat S. M. Yasir、Khan Murad M.、Niederkrotenthaler Thomas、Ueda Michiko、Armstrong Gregory
  • Journal Title: Crisis Volume: 41 Issue: 1 Pages: 47-53
  • DOI: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000603
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Covariance in diurnal patterns of suicide-related expressions on Twitter and recorded suicide deaths (2020)
  • Author(s): Fahey Robert A.、Boo Jeremy、Ueda Michiko
  • Journal Title: Social Science & Medicine Volume: 253 Pages: 112960-112960
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112960
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Physical multimorbidity and suicidal behavior in the general population in the United States (2020)
  • Author(s): Stickley Andrew、Koyanagi Ai、Ueda Michiko、Inoue Yosuke、Waldman Kyle、Oh Hans
  • Journal Title: Journal of Affective Disorders Volume: 260 Pages: 604-609
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2019.09.042
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Higher Risk of Suicide on Milestone Birthdays: Evidence from Japan (2019)
  • Author(s): Matsubayashi Tetsuya、Lee Myoung-jae、Ueda Michiko
  • Journal Title: Scientific Reports Volume: 9 Issue: 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-53203-4
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Age relative to school class peers and emotional well-being in 10-year-olds (2019)
  • Author(s): Shuntaro Ando , Satoshi Usami, Tetsuya Matsubayashi, Michiko Ueda, Shinsuke Koike, Syudo Yamasaki, Shinya Fujikawa, Tsukasa Sasaki, Mariko Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, George Patton, Kiyoto Kasai, Atsushi Nishida
  • Journal Title: PlosOne Volume: 14 (3) Issue: 3 Pages: e0214359-e0214359
  • DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0214359
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Suicide by persons with foreign background in Japan (2019)
  • Author(s): Ueda Michiko、Yoshikawa Kanako、Matsubayashi Tetsuya
  • Journal Title: PLOS ONE Volume: 14 Issue: 2 Pages: 0211867-867
  • DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211867
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Diurnal variation in suicide timing by age and gender: Evidence from Japan across 41 years (2019)
  • Author(s): Boo Jeremy、Matsubayashi Tetsuya、Ueda Michiko
  • Journal Title: Journal of Affective Disorders Volume: 243 Pages: 366-374
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.09.030
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Tracking the Werther Effect on social media: Emotional responses to prominent suicide deaths on twitter and subsequent increases in suicide (2018)
  • Author(s): Fahey Robert A.、Matsubayashi Tetsuya、Ueda Michiko
  • Journal Title: Social Science & Medicine Volume: 219 Pages: 19-29
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.10.004
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Tweeting celebrity suicides: Users' reaction to prominent suicide deaths on Twitter and subsequent increases in actual suicides (2017)
  • Author(s): Ueda Michiko、Mori Kota、Matsubayashi Tetsuya、Sawada Yasuyuki
  • Journal Title: Social Science & Medicine Volume: 189 Pages: 158-166
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.06.032
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Presentation] Media Reporting of Suicide in Japan: A Longitudinal Analysis (2017)
  • Author(s): Matsubayashi Tetsuya; Ueda Michiko; Fahey Robert
  • Organizer: International Association for Suicide Prevention Asia Pacific Regional Conference
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Book] Economic Analysis of Suicide Prevention (2017)
  • Author(s): Sawada Yasuyuki、Ueda Michiko、Matsubayashi Tetsuya
  • Total Pages: 203
  • Publisher: Springer