The Problem of Children's Suicide: Ages 5-14

• Date: 01 January 1982
• Author: Donald McGuire
• Published date: 01 January 1982
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X8202600101
• Subject Matter: Articles

The Problem of Children’s Suicide:
Ages 5-14
Donald McGuire
J. S. tried to take his own life on several occasions between the
ages of 9 and 11. J.S. expressed his fear of growing up and his
frustrations with life.
J.S.: It’s funny. I just-to me the whole thing was a joke. Really,
I was really scared of growing up. I couldn’t imagine how the
future would be. So, if I could avoid growing up in any way,
I would do anything to avoid it. If I had to kill myself, I will.
I mean, it’s that kind of thing. I think I was scared basically
growing up.
Interviewer: Did you ever try to kill yourself?
J.S.: Oh, sure. A feyv times.
Interviewer: How old were you then?
J.S. : There’s been a few times. I remember maybe about 9, I took
a bottle of sleeping pills that were at home. A few times I
tried to cut myself with a razor blade. I still got scars. I guess
about 9, 10 and 11.
As far back as 1965, Shaw and Schelkum (1965), experts in
childhood suicide, suggested that childhood suicide statistics were
conservative since a number of deaths reported as accidents for
the 5-to-14 age group actually may have been suicides. Winn (1966),
Toolan (1962) and Pfeffer (1979) confirmed this. Peck (1980),
director of the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center, suggested
that another factor contributing to the under-reporting may be the
practice of United States coroners of avoiding the term &dquo;suicide&dquo;
to describe the cause of death for persons under ten years of age.
Authorities seem to agree that a large number of suicides have
gone and continue to go unreported, and that medically and
psychologically many suicide attempts go untreated, as such, due
to the historically strong traditional social, religious and legal taboos
associated with the act (Farberow and Scheidman, 1961; Hall, 1976;
Shaw, 1965).
10

---

11
Limitations on Identifying Childhood Suicide and Suicide Attempts
Shaw and Schelkun (1965) reviewed studies on the limitations in
identifying suicide and/or attempted suicide. They identified
factors that may cause the recorded suicides of children under 10
years of age to be far fewer than the actual incidences. Some of
these factors include:
1. Young children often are unable to write suicide notes, which
is one of the chief categories of evidence used by coroners in deter-
mining suicide.
2. Suicidal motives in children often are unacceptable in Western
culture since, generally, adults underestimate the strength of the
children’s emotions and motivations. Because the motives are un-
acceptable in Western culture since, generally, adults underestimate
the strength of the children’s emotions and motivations. Because the
motives are unacceptable, they remain uninvestigated in most
instances.
3. The child suicide often is classified as an accident since the
means open to the child are often those of jumping from heights
or running into traffic. Most very young children do not know how
to use weapons and drugs effectively.
4. Accidents are by a wide margin the leading cause of death in
children and adolescents. There is no way of knowing how many
reported accidents are actually suicides.
Other studies serve to substantiate the finding that childhood
suicide attempts often resemble accidents. Winn (1966), in studying
20 children under 15 years of age and 20 under 10 years of age,
analyzed the ways the children said they thought of killing them-
selves. Jumping from windows, being hit by a car, taking pills, or
using a knife were high on the list. Children who had access to rail-
roads proposed falling on railroad tracks. Thirty per cent of the
children in this study had carried out the threat to the gesture stage
by an overt attempt.
Toolan (1962) studied children between 2 and 16 years of age
who had attempted suicide. In tracing the histories of the children,
he concluded that parents and physicians conceal many cases of
childhood and adolescent suicide attempts and report them as
accidents. In support of his conclusion, Toolan (1968) reported
that the Suicide Prevention Center of Los Angeles had estimated
that 50 per cent of suicides are disguised as accidents.
Pfeffer (1979) confirmed this in a study of 6-to-12 year old
suicidal...