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Social media and suicide: Empirical evidence from the quasi‐exogenous geographical adoption of Twitter

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Social media usage is often cited as a potential driver behind the rising suicide rates. However, distinguishing the causal effect-whether social media increases the risk of suicide-from reverse causality, where individuals already at higher risk of suicide are more likely to use social media, remains a significant challenge. In this paper, we use an instrumental variable approach to study the quasi-exogenous geographical adoption of Twitter and its causal relationship with suicide rates. Our analysis first demonstrates that Twitter's geographical adoption was driven by the presence of certain users at the 2007 South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, which led to long-term disparities in adoption rates across counties in the United States. Then, using a two-stage least squares regression and controlling for a wide range of geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic factors, we find no significant relationship between Twitter adoption and suicide rates.

Source: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1111/nyas.70016

Authors: Alexis Du, Thomas Renault

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre d'Économie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Language: English

Topic: Suicide and Self-Harm Studies

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W4413889391

FWCI:

Cites: 30

Cited by:

Related to: 10