Suicide in Elementary School-Aged Children and Early Adolescents

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Suicide in elementary school-aged children is not well studied, despite a recent increase in the suicide rate among US black children. The objectives of this study were to describe characteristics and precipitating circumstances of suicide in elementary school-aged children relative to early adolescent decedents and identify potential within-group racial differences.

Analysis of multisource data establishes wide-ranging antecedents of youth suicide in England

“…Twenty-seven percent of youth expressed their suicidal ideation in the week prior to death and 16% on the day of death. This finding is consistent with previous studies3 and demands better education of young people, parents, school personnel and healthcare providers about how to recognise and respond to warning signs of suicide.…”

Annual Research Review: Suicide among youth – epidemiology, (potential) etiology, and treatment

“…Findings regarding other racial/ethnic minorities are nuanced and often specific to region, type of suicide‐related outcome, and time. For instance, in the United States, Black Non‐Hispanic adolescents are less likely to experience suicidal ideation compared with other adolescents (CDC, ; Nock et al., ); however, there is a consistent trend of increasing suicide attempt and death rates over time among Black youth relative to same‐aged White peers (Bridge et al., ; Joe & Kaplan, ; Shaffer, Gould, & Hicks, ), and higher death rates among Black children compared with Black adolescents (Sheftall et al., ). An additional and critical consideration is the local environment and whether this interacts with minority status.…”

“… This is not to say that psychopathology does not correspond with suicide death earlier in life; it may be that select diagnoses (e.g. attention‐deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity) may play a more prominent role among children who die by suicide than early adolescents who die by suicide (Sheftall et al., ). …”

Children with ADHD draw‐and‐tell about what makes their life really good

“…The implied value of connection, in relation to life satisfaction, and the children's conveyance of emotion in the context of connections, are insightful, given continuing evidence that indicates children with ADHD experience more problems with family (Theule, Wiener, Tannock, & Jenkins, ), peers/friends (Mrug et al., ), and emotional regulation (Steinberg & Drabick, ) when compared to unaffected children. Equally notable is the vulnerability of children with ADHD who experience relational problems and increased suicide risks (Sheftall et al., ). The findings in this study suggest that encouraging families to “do things, outside, together” may hold the possibility of promoting life satisfaction and perhaps protecting life itself in children with ADHD.…”