When reporters cover mass shootings news outlets often struggle to find ways to cover the event that won’t inspire others to do the same thing. Something similar follows in the wake of a suicide. Journalists don’t always cover suicides in their communities but when they do one of the concerns is whether that coverage might lead to a spike in suicides after the story is out. The media’s influence on the actions of individuals is a chronic concern for researchers in a number of fields and is a focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Joel Greenhouse

Joel B. Greenhouse, Ph.D., is Professor of Statistics at Carnegie Mellon University, and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh. He is an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and an elected Member of the International Statistical Institute.

Why did you study 13 Reasons Why? (1:23) What data did you use in this? (2:20) How did you choose the age ranges? (7:40) Editing the episode (9:45) What’re the limitations of this research (10:56) Correlation/causation issues? (13:21) Any outrageous stories about your work? (15:02) Most surprising result of your work? (16:15) Contagion with suicide (18:24) How would you follow this study up? (20:23)