A Canadian report looking at 30 studies of suicidal thoughts and non-suicidal self-harm among children age 6-12 was reported in The Lancet, Psychiatry on July 27, 2022. The study included 98,044 children.
The prevalence of suicidal thinking was 7.5%, 2.2% for suicidal planning, and 1.3% for suicide attempts. The prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury was 21.9%. Non-suicidal self-injury means that the child cut, burned, or otherwise injured themselves to deal with strong emotions but not with the intent of taking their own life.
Given that there are 47.7 million children in the US ages 6-12 (if this study is valid for US children) that means 3.6 million have suicidal thoughts, 620 thousand attempt suicide, and 10.4 million have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury in a year.
When only the child is asked about suicidal thoughts, the results are higher than when only the parent is asked. This suggests that parents are not always aware of their children’s suicidal thoughts.
The prevalence of suicidal thoughts and self-harm behaviors in this age group are similar in both boys and girls.
