Characteristics of 53 adolescent suicide victims were investigated in a nationwide study of suicides in Finland. The data were collected through interviews with the victims’ parents, attending health care personnel & from official records. 4 victims in 10 had shown antisocial behaviour. One-third of the adolescents had previous suicide attempts, & 60% were known to have verbalized their suicidal thoughts. Results suggest that most adolescent suicides are an endpoint of long-term difficulties.