Little is known about rates and correlates of suicidal ideation among nonclinical samples of preadolescents from low-income urban backgrounds. Using the Children's Depression Inventory, we measured suicidal ideation in 131 preadolescent urban children (49% female, 90% African American/Caribbean) participating in an ongoing prospective longitudinal study of prenatal cocaine exposure and children's outcome. Suicidal ideation was reported by 14.5% of the children in this sample at 9 to 10 years of age. Children's reports of depressive symptoms, exposure to violence, and distress symptoms in response to witnessing violence were associated with suicidal ideation, but prenatal cocaine exposure, parent-rated child behavior, and caregivers' psychological distress symptoms were not. Suicidal ideation may be more prevalent among preadolescents from urban, low-income backgrounds than clinicians suspect, particularly among children exposed to violence. Index termssuicidal ideation; preadolescent; violence; Child Depression Inventory; prenatal cocaine exposure; urban Over the past two decades, the rate of completed suicide has been on the rise for nearly every age group. Suicide claimed the lives of over 29,000 people in the United States during the year 2000 alone and is currently the 11th leading cause of death of all Americans. 1 Among Address for reprints: Catherine O'Leary Eckel,