If you have read mainstream media reports on suicides, you recognize a common theme: men are painted as angry and rejected, while women are regarded as sociable and mentally ill.

A new analysis of daily newspaper coverage of suicide has far-reaching consequences, write scholars from Medical University of Vienna, because when it comes to suicidal behavior, there is a clear gender paradox: the ratio of men to women who actually commit suicide is three to one, but with attempted suicides it is just the opposite - three women for every one man. 

The authors say the findings demonstrate that the cultural script that bears partial responsibility for this is also found in the reports by Austrian daily newspapers.

These gender-specific differences are made visible by the formulation, the nature and frequency of reported suicide motives. Articles about suicide in women focus more on sociability, relationships with other people and motives that are anchored in the family environment. Psychiatric illnesses are also cited as a motive and are described in a stigmatizing manner.

More complex language and cautious expressions are also the hallmarks of articles about female suicide. In contrast, the articles about male suicide use more words that relate to anger and rejection. This conservative role image that pervades Austria anyway is reinforced by this style of reporting.

Could suicide risk be reduced by changing the style of reporting?

But that's not all. A very specific problem arises from this, says study leader Brigitte Eisenwort from the University Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine: "Mental illnesses are described in a stigmatizing way and are also generally under-represented, since they are barely mentioned at all in reports about suicidal men.

"This means that one key approach to prevention fails to register in the minds of Austrian readers. Psychiatric illnesses can be treated. The suicide risk can be reduced as a result."

Journalists should therefore take care to present as correct a view as possible of suicidal tendencies and not revert to stereotypical portrayals of men and women, they say.

Spotlight on 11 Austrian daily newspapers

507 articles containing the word 'suicide' from eleven Austrian daily newspapers from between 1997 and 2005 were investigated. The authors say the study is one of the first investigations to look comprehensively at the subject of gender-specific patterns in the reporting of suicide. 

Citation: Eisenwort, B., Till, B., Hinterbuchinger, B. and Niederkrotenthaler, Th.: Sociable, mentally disturbed women and angry rejected men: Cultural scripts for the suicidal behaviour of women and men in the Austrian print media. Sex Roles (2014)71: 246-260.

Source: Medical University of Vienna