Research suggests that suicide can socially diffuse through social relationships and social contexts; however, little is known about the mechanisms that facilitate this diffusion. Using data from an in-depth case study of a cohesive community with an enduring youth suicide problem (N = 118), we examine how, after repeated exposure to suicide, the community’s cultural script for suicide may have been rekeyed such that suicide became a more imaginable option for some community youth. Essentially, we found evidence that a series of sudden, shocking, suicide deaths of high-status youth may have triggered the formation of new locally generalized meanings for suicide that became available, taken-for-granted social facts. The new meanings reinterpreted broadly shared adolescent experiences (exposure to pressure) as a cause of suicide facilitating youth’s ability to imagine suicide as something someone like them could do to escape. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for the scientific understanding of (1) suicide and suicide clusters, (2) social diffusion processes, and (3) suicide prevention.

中文翻译：

---

重新锁定青年自杀的文化脚本：暴露于自杀之后社交网络如何促进自杀扩散和自杀群体

研究表明，自杀可以通过社会关系和社会环境在社会上扩散。但是，对于促进这种扩散的机制知之甚少。使用来自一个具有持久青年自杀问题（N = 118）的凝聚力社区的深入案例研究的数据，我们研究了在反复暴露于自杀之后，社区的自杀文化脚本如何被重新命名，从而使自杀成为一种自杀行为。对于某些社区青年来说，这是更可想象的选择。本质上，我们发现有证据表明，高地位青年的一系列突然的，令人震惊的自杀死亡事件可能已经触发了自杀的新的本地化广义含义的形成，这些含义已成为可以理解的，可以理解的社会事实。新的含义重新解释了广泛共享的青春期经历（暴露于压力下）作为自杀的原因，从而促进了年轻人将自杀想象为像他们这样的人可以逃脱的事情的能力。最后，我们讨论了我们的发现对（1）自杀和自杀群，（2）社会传播过程以及（3）预防自杀的科学理解的意义。