hip hop song triggers drop in suicide rates

the title of the track by logic, featuring alessia cara and khalid, is the phone number for the national suicide prevention lifeline.

by chris arnold

published dec 16, 2021

3 minute read

join the conversation

3 minute read

join the conversation

hip hop song triggers drop in suicide rates

suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth young adults aged 15 to 34. getty

this story contains reference to suicidal ideation and may be disturbing for some readers. if you are considering suicide, the canadian suicide prevention service helpline offers help and support, and can be reached at 1-833-456-4566.music can help us through some difficult times in our lives, remind us of old friends, or simply cheer us up if we are having a rough day. researchers from the university of vienna in austria found one hip hop song in particular had such an impact — in a really big way. the track 1-800-273-8255 by logic, featuring alessia cara and khalid, which dropped in april 2017 helped suicide rates dip almost seven per cent. the song’s title is the phone number for the national suicide prevention lifeline (nspl). the research was published in the bmj earlier this week in the publication’s christmas issue. using twitter to estimate the attention the public gave to the song, researchers found that the three most popular times for the song were the song’s debut, the 2017 mtv video music awards where logic performed the track, and the 2018 grammy awards where he performed the song again. logic’s track reached number 26 on the billboard adult contemporary charts after it was released.studying a period of 34 days after each of these events, it was found there were an additional 9,915 calls to the nspl. additionally, the suicide rate dropped 5.5 per cent, which means 245 fewer people committed suicide. “these findings emphasize the potential population health benefits of working creatively and innovatively with other sectors, such as the music and entertainment industries, to promote new impactful stories of help seeking that resonate with broad audiences, leave a visible footprint on social media, and are safe in terms of not featuring potentially lethal actions but rather coping and mastery of crises,” the study reads. this trend is almost the exact opposite of the trend of media report triggering suicidal behaviour. in 2017, the release of the netflix series 13 reasons why, a show about a high school student who commits suicide, triggered a spike in teen suicide rates of 28.9 per cent in boys age 10 to 17 just one month after release. but the research around the song actually supports what is known as the papageno effect, a theory that says that when media portrays someone overcoming suicidal thoughts, it’s actually protective against suicide. it gets its name from the magic flute character, papageno, who was contemplating ending his life until other characters convinced him to consider other ways to solve his problems. this study was also an observational study, which means that it cannot really establish a cause for any results. researchers also pointed to limitations, such as not finding if the song had any impact on people outside of those three key timeframes when it most popular. alexandra pitman, a researcher from university college london, says in a linked editorial that more work is required to understand the intervention between media and prevention. she says she welcomes the idea of cultural influencers, such as rappers, amplifying the public health interventions intended to strengthen suicide prevention in vulnerable areas. from 1999 to 2017, the national suicide rate in the united states rose by 33 per cent, according to the centers for disease control. suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the u.s., with more than 47,000 people ending their lives in 2019, according to the american foundation for suicide prevention. in canada, more than 10 people die from suicide every day, the federal government says — that’s a total of approximately 4,000 each year. it is the second leading cause of death among youth young adults aged 15 to 34. suicide rates in canada are also three times higher in men than women. to reach the canadian suicide prevention service helpline, call 1-833-456-4566.chris arnold is a toronto-based freelance writer . he can be reached here.