Monday, April 21, 2008

Very young suicides - what are the risk factors?

In the 5-14-year-old age group the average worldwide annual rates of suicide per 100,000 in 2000 were 0.4 for girls and 1.5 for boys. Though this rate is statistically very low the impact on families, friends and classmates can be terrible. A U.S. study of 179 children between the ages of 9 and 12 found that sixteen of them had contemplated killing themselves. Those children most at risk felt less connected to their school, used more internalizing behaviours (becoming depressed and/or anxious rather than talking about their problems) and reported less cohesion, open communication, supervision and family caring than the other children.

Riesch, S.K. ... [et al] - Suicide ideation among later elementary school-aged youth Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing May 2008, 15(4), 263-277

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