Dervic, Kanita et al. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Published online Dec 2018

This article summarises the evidence regarding suicidal ideation and behaviour in young children.  Although the provenance of adolescents, these issues reportedly occur in children at rates of 4-13% in pre-schoolers and 1.6% (ideation) or 2-3% (attempts or plans) for 3-7 year olds, and suicidal ideation/behaviour at preschool age is associated with longitudinal risk of these issues.  Methodological issues may account for some of these differences in rates.  Further analysis of personal and environmental factors are needed, but for the moment, these issues should not be ignored when working with pre-adolescents.