Children As Early As 5 May Be At Risk Of Suicide, Study Warns

An alarming new study has recently discovered that children, even at the tender age of 5, may be at risk of suicide. Researchers found that African American elementary school aged boys are the most at risk, although black teens and young adults have a much lower suicide rates compared to others.

"Adults need to realize that school-age children as young as 5 kill themselves," said Dr. Gregory Fritz, director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School. He was not involved with the study but is familiar with the findings.

In a report by CBS News, it was stated that the authors of the study pointed out that it's not common for young children to die by suicide. They have noticed that children between the ages 5 and 11 have a suicide rate of 0.17 for every 100,000 children. However, for teens aging 12 to 17 years old, the figure has dramatically increased to 5.18 per 100,000, the background information from the study showed.

Dr. Fritz also mentioned that mental health specialists believed that young children do not have the capabilities to kill themselves. These experts thought that children "were not capable of suicide because it couldn't be as hopeless as it was often seen to be required, or they didn't have a sense of time or an understanding of the permanence of death."

According to UPI.com, contrary to these experts' beliefs, the new study found that children do die by suicide. "It happens. Not every day, but not that infrequently. That's a very painful thing for adults to consider, but we have to confront that reality. Adults need to take even little kids seriously when they talk about suicide," Dr. Fritz explained. Even at present, he said, "most people outside of the mental health professions are aghast when they think of a 6-year-old trying to kill himself. They think, 'Are you kidding, how can that be true?' "

The research team did their study as a follow through to their prior findings that implied a sharp increase in suicides among young black children from 1993 to 2012 and a decrease among young white children, according to the study's lead author Arielle Sheftall, a postdoctoral research fellow at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Sheftall said that the new study is geared toward a better understanding of the possible reason why young children would end their lives. Researchers observed suicide figures in 17 states in different periods between 2003 and 2012 focusing on children aging 5 to 11, and 12 to 14. The study discovered that in the states observed, 87 children (85 percent male) aged 5 to 11 died by suicide, as well as 606 (70 percent male) children aged 12 to 14.

"Elementary school-aged children who died by suicide were more likely to experience relationship problems with their family members or friends, while early adolescents who died by suicide were more likely to experience boyfriend or girlfriend problems," Sheftall said.

About 4 in 10 suicides involving children aged 5 to 11 were African American children, and mostly are boys. However, neither Sheftall nor Fritz' theories can answer why the rate is this high. Sheftall noted that African Americans tend to have a decreased suicide rates compared to others. Health Day reported that one-third of the suicide victims were suffering from a mental health problem, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which is the most common at 60 percent.

"This suggests that children who die by suicide may be more vulnerable as a group to respond impulsively to interpersonal challenges," Sheftall said. But, she cautioned that the study doesn't show that ADHD causes suicide.