Developmental Aspects of Suicidal Behavior in Children: I

Assessed understanding of death & knowledge of suicide in 85 hospitalized children & adolescents, mental ages 8-14, & in 26 nonpsychiatrically referred school children. The least mature children were least convinced about death’s finality & least certain of method & motivation for suicide. Most school age children were surprisingly knowledgeable. In adolescents, unlike children, there was 100% consistency between what they thought would be fatal, thought about doing & what they ultimately did.