Kutcher and others are concerned that the trend of football players committing suicide will lead to other football players considering the same outcome. This kind of "contagion" is backed up by findings from a 1994 report by the Center for Disease Control: "One risk factor that has emerged from this research is suicide 'contagion,' a process by which exposure to the suicide or suicidal behavior of one or more persons influences others to commit or attempt suicide. Evidence suggests that the effect of contagion is not confined to suicides occurring in discrete geographic areas. In particular, nonfictional newspaper and television coverage of suicide has been associated with a statistically significant excess of suicides." .
