Dear Godfrey,

Check these out:

Some may need assistance to make such a decision

Traditionally, though the notion of" tabula lasa" is not completely applied to children, it is considered that children are not able to distinguish between evil and good before the age of seven. Also , for most children below 5years, the brain is not yet grown to a level of executing a causal-effect decision such as suicide. Much forensic information has not been accumulated , supporting suicide of children below 7 years. However, cases of such children committing what would be considered homicide have been recorded though they can be largely considered instinctive not premeditated. Never the less suicidal actions such as hanging, shooting oneself, self-poisoning, drowning are so deterrent for young children to contemplate about, and would largely be considered accidental if they happened. Depending on exposure to traumatic events, suicidal methods,children approaching teenage are vulnerable to committing suicidal actions... This is my view..

First, one needs to differentiate between suicides that attempts that unintentionally resulte in death and intended deaths. The reverse are intended suicides that failed and are registered as attempts. Second, is the factor age. One needs sufficient fysical skills (development to commit suicide. Also, below the age childrensee death as reversal. Hence, most 'suicides' before that age aren't real suicides. They may be attempts to visit a deceased beloved person. Third. (pre-)adolescents and adults can plan their death. Some do this for quite some time. It only needs a trigger to committing the suicide. Fourth, quite a few suicides weren't intended to die, they were attempts to stop inbarable pain, thoughts or hallucinations. Last but not least, there is the problem of definitions.

In my view, l think if children have an underlying predisposition such depression, any masked form of abnormal personalities associated with psychosis may plan and execute their suicidal idealizations. Furthermore, their psychological enigma coupled with delusions of paranoia, hallucinations etc that cant be experienced properly to them; may help in the elucidation of this phenomena from the mental health point of view. Hope that helps Doctor

As a therapist for 24 years, I have personally talked with children who truly wanted to die. Some of these (the youngest was 5 years old, others 7 areas old and up) had heard about different methods of suicide and were considering the methods available to them. Some had attempted to kill themselves (hanging, pills, running in front of oncoming vehicles, shooting themselves, walking into a dangerous river, etc.) and were interrupted (hanging cord broke, cut down by someone, someone came along, told a trusted adult hours before, etc., etc. It all had to do with the very intense level of emotional pain they were feeling at the time. Note: I am speaking of experience in the United States.

Problematic remains the question of whether children younger than 9 y.o.a. can sufficiently Judge the essence of death. At least most of them cannot. I agree that pain, emotional or physical, plays an essential role in committing suicide.

In almost all episodes of suicides children only imitated the act of suicide they had watched in films or TV serials..

and causes of most attempts ....were conflicts in the family front...with parents..

Children blindly imitate the way of responding to emotional trauma...

they will never plan or attempt or execute the act if they are ignorant about the definition or meaning of suicide...

they will never plan or commit ... even if they know what is "suicide"..

they will only imitate ....if they know what "suicide" is...and how it is being done...

Dear Jeny,

Is this your opinion, your personal practice opinion or is this a result of a study. In latter case I would very much appreciate this respective paper(s).

I would summarise all that has been said with the idea that this is too general a belief, and most likely we will be able to find children (and adults!) who can and who cannot plan or succeed in committing suicide. I would like, however, to ask the reason for this question. Is it theoretical or clinical? I assume that as a clinician, I would not rely on such a view in order not to treat a child with death ideas.

Refer to the works of professor Béatrice Marianne Ewalds-Kvist - but to add - planning as executable function is determined by access to resources and intensity of the concern - in terms of stimulus availability and access to it

Interesting question ... I am trying to study adolescent and youth suicide in the context of my country, and I use roughly age group of 15-25 years old. Somehow some reports of suicides also use this age group. I think the latest government publication here indicated the youngest person who committed suicide (as defined) was something like 14 years old. I am not sure what is the prevalence of completed suicide in your country for those <15 years old, and also <10 years old. From the sociology viewpoint, they tend to see "suicide" as a product of society. We don't see babies commit suicide. It is not a born behaviour ... but a learned one from the society (i.e. external environment). From psychology perspective, of course we identify a range of emotions that precipitate suicide such as depression, no meaning in life, hopelessness, no faith, etc. However, I haven't come upon any consensus literature suggesting these to affect babies/toddlers/young children, say age 0-10 years old. They can be angry, sad, rebellious, etc., but I guess the age suicide can happen depends also on their level of growth emotionally and mentally to understand the concept of "suicide" (as defined). Others may be accidents, curiosity, emotional mix-up, copying acts they saw in TV (at one time long time ago, when I was young, my cousin in that age group suddenly unwind the window at the back seat and sit on the window of the car; fortunately other cars started to honk and the parents managed to stop the car ... it only happened once and it seems she said she saw it in some TV show of people jumping out of a moving car). I think understanding the underlying reasons why a particular child will attempt self-kill is important for intervention and counselling, etc. Some studies have shown children is capable to be identified as clinically depressed to be prescribed anti-depressant medication, but I am not sure what is the youngest age. I guess it may differ from society to society as well.

developmentally a behavior is possible at any age - given the severity of the concern.

You need to unpack two things "belief" and "biological age" more accurately - as sociology provides overview of factors and psychological lens can be used to explore motivations to the behavior - but as commented earlier "children" need to be defined more accurately in terms of biological age - generally within a Criminal Code context - suicide of a child - even if suicide is not recorded as such in Coroner Reports...

Also, the construct of belief needs to be quantified...

And equally - you need to then define what "suicide" means in terms of how does a child perceive this - otherwise you are trying to impose an adult worldview on a child in terms of expectancy of a behavior