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Student hazing activities on American college campuses have resulted in numerous deaths reported in the news media. Despite regular reports on hazing-related fatalities, no research has examined how these deaths are reported. The current study aims to bridge this research gap by analyzing articles covering hazing deaths in the U.S. between 1994 and 2019. The analysis reveals consistent patterns highlighting the influence of alcohol, different classifications of deaths, punitive responses, and the emotional reactions of the campus community. While these reports provide records of important and tragic events, their recurrent publication may bias understandings of the relative risk of student hazing, particularly fraternity hazing. Based on these findings, we make several recommendations for reporting on hazing deaths and future research directions.
Perez et al. (Mon,) studied this question.