For somebody who is vulnerable, if they know of someone who has died by suicide, it can increase the risk for them. There's a certain sense of, okay, I have permission. Somebody else did it, so they may view that as a very viable option for themselves.
The contagion effect I think has been better documented among young people, who can react more impulsively.
In Canada there are three high-risk groups: first nations peoples, youth, and older adults. Some of the research we've looked at suggests that actually the rate of suicide among older adults is higher than with youth, but they tend not to get the same attention as when there's a death of a young person. When we look at certain segments of the veterans population, there are so many risk factors there that, as I said in my presentation, it makes them particularly vulnerable.