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Suicide and Parasuicide in Childhood and Early Adolescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Donald J. Brooksbank
Donald J. Brooksbank*
Affiliation:
Child and Family Psychiatric Clinic, 84, Ewell Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 6EX
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Extract

Suicide is intentional self-killing, and parasuicide an act of deliberate self-harm—either by injury, ingestion or inhalation—not resulting in death (Black et al, 1982). Both are rare under the age of 12 and the rate of suicide in those under 16 remains consistently low. Referrals to psychiatric services reported by Shaffer (1974) indicated that 7–10% were for threatened or attempted suicide, while Hawton (1982) quoted studies giving the incidence as 10–33% for children aged six to 12; in England and Wales (1962–1968), suicide accounted for 0.6% of deaths in the 10–14 age-range. McClure (1984) found that between 1975 and 1980, only ten such deaths were recorded in the 13-and-under range, and 26 deaths in the 14 year-olds, after which the number of suicides rose sharply with each successive year. That study also showed that parasuicide was most common in the 15–24 age-group, but at younger ages there was a higher proportion of undetermined deaths, as against officially recorded suicides. The social taboos associated with suicide may lead to its systematic under-reporting, but even allowing for that, the phenomenon is still a rare one under the age of 16.

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Annotation
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 146 , Issue 5 , May 1985 , pp. 459 - 463
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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