Home Conflicts & Lack of Supervision Fuel Kids’ Suicidal Thoughts & Attempts, Study Says

A new study released Friday showed that 9- and 10-year-olds have thought about suicide, more so if they have no parental supervision and a lot of conflicts in the home. UPI reports that the study, published in the JAMA Network Open, found that as many as 6.4 percent of almost 12,000 kids in that age group had thought about suicide. Just over one percent of study participants had attempted suicide at least once and more than nine percent had done some kind of self-injury like “cutting.” For those kids with high family conflict, suicidal ideation risk was as much as 12 percent higher and self injury as up to nine percent higher. “We believe that parental monitoring, knowing where your children are, what they’re doing and talking to them about their feelings is critical to addressing these issues,” says the study co-author. Researchers also point out that it’s important for pediatricians and other professionals to start assessing kids for risk at a younger age. The researchers plan to follow the population over time and “look more closely at other modifiable factors to be able to give recommendations towards reducing the current rates.”