# Morbid Question: Youngest Suicide? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808 "2007-06-05T08:06:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/1 "2007-06-05T08:06:09Z")
What is the youngest age at which a person is recorded to have committed suicide? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/2 "2007-06-05T08:15:41Z")
Hmm, interesting question - my first thought though is “Does intent have to be established?” Young children can be pretty oblivious to mortal danger and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that some poorly supervised young children have killed themselves quite by accident. ETA: I just looked up suicide in the dictionary and was surprised to find that “taking one’s own life _voluntarily and intentionally_” is actually built into the definition. I always just thought of it as simply killing of oneself, and considered accidental but self-induced death to be suicide. Guess not. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/3 "2007-06-05T08:47:16Z")
Right.Somewhere here is a long debate over whether animal can commit suicide, one sde taking the reasonable position that since animals can’t understand death, they aren’t really commiting suicide, just doing something that leads to their own death. So, the same problem lies here. Clearly even newborns have done things that have killed them. But at what age is that act knowing and wilful? 18? Then 18 is the youngest age. 16? then 16 is the youngest age. And so on. Sad, really. ---
**Author:** ![Geekmustnotdie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e99b99/32.png) [@Geekmustnotdie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geekmustnotdie)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/4 "2007-06-05T11:45:54Z")
This is the only story that I can remember (and find): [Kids Imitate Saddam’s Televised Hanging Death](http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2773792). > [@](#): > > Sergio Pelico, a 10-year-old boy from Webster, Texas, hanged himself from a bunk bed last Sunday. > > On that same day, a 9-year-old Pakistani boy, Mubashar Ali, hanged himself, with help from his 10-year-old sister. > > And three days later, in the suburbs of Kolkata, India, 15-year-old Moon Moon Karmarkar hanged herself from a ceiling fan. > > Other than their tragic nature, the suicides of these children shared another link – each of the young victims had viewed the execution video of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein on television. It’s sad. ---
**Author:** ![Cryptoderk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cryptoderk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptoderk)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/5 "2007-06-05T13:12:22Z")
There was a 4 year old who appeared in a Hamas video promising to be a suicide bomber… ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/6 "2007-06-05T14:03:16Z")
I remember reading a newspaper article a long time ago about a girl - maybe nine years old? - who committed suicide. My recollection is sketchy, but I think she deliberately stepped in the path of an oncoming train (or traffic) after talking about wanting to end her life because her mother was sick or dying or recently dead? I am thinking it was in the UK. Too hard to Google up anything with that incredible vague recollection. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/7 "2007-06-05T15:16:08Z")
298 youths age 10–14 (74% of them male) committed suicide in the U.S. in 1996. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/8 "2007-06-05T15:21:20Z")
A family friend who just retired from being an elementary school guidance counselor mentioned to us once that she had had a rough day because a first grader had attempted suicide. Of course, how well does a child that young understand permanence and death? ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/9 "2007-06-05T15:29:56Z")
Something else though with attempting suicide is how do you know they didnt want to get caught? Or just wanted attention. I read somewhere that teenage girls “attempt” suicide twice as much as men, but there are still more male deaths because of the ways they each try. The person has to understand death in the way we do. My 4 year old cousin knows Bambi’s mom “died” but does she know what that means? She knows her aunt is “sick” (breast cancer) just like her mom was, and because of over hearing knows that she will probably “die” but how does she know what that means? I would say that a person has to be at least 8 for them to truely know what death is and commit suicide. ---
**Author:** ![Maia\_s\_Well](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Maia\_s\_Well](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maia_s_Well)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/10 "2007-06-05T16:06:08Z")
I remember attempting suicide at age 4. I would choke myself with my hands until (I guess) I would pass out (being so young, I didn’t realize that my hands would relax once I lost consciousness). I knew what “dead” meant. BTW, I’m much better now! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/11 "2007-06-05T16:59:18Z")
[QUOTE=Rigamarole] ETA: I just looked up suicide in the dictionary and was surprised to find that “taking one’s own life _voluntarily and intentionally_” is actually built into the definition. I always just thought of it as simply killing of oneself, and considered accidental but self-induced death to be suicide. Guess not. Carry on. [/QUOTE] Why would you think that? If someone accidentally eats some poisonous berries that look like blueberries, and dies, would you really consider that suicide? ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/12 "2007-06-05T17:17:11Z")
Yeah, that notion could not be more wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Cryptoderk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cryptoderk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptoderk)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/13 "2007-06-05T17:23:09Z")
[QUOTE=Cazzle] I remember reading a newspaper article a long time ago about a girl - maybe nine years old? - who committed suicide. My recollection is sketchy, but I think she deliberately stepped in the path of an oncoming train (or traffic) after talking about wanting to end her life because her mother was sick or dying or recently dead? I am thinking it was in the UK. Too hard to Google up anything with that incredible vague recollection. [/QUOTE] It was worse than nine… [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CEFDB1631F934A25755C0A965958260](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CEFDB1631F934A25755C0A965958260) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/14 "2007-06-05T17:36:29Z")
[QUOTE=ChrisBooth12] My 4 year old cousin knows Bambi’s mom “died” but does she know what that means? [/QUOTE] Do any of us? I don’t mean that just to be pithy. I mean that when I was myself suicidal, I just wanted the pain to stop. I wanted life to stop. I’m not sure how to articulate it, but it wasn’t death I was seeking but the cessation of life. I think some 4 year olds can grok that. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/15 "2007-06-05T20:10:13Z")
“grok”? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/16 "2007-06-05T20:18:36Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] “grok”? 😕 [/QUOTE] grok (grk) tr.v. grok·ked, grok·king, groks Slang To understand profoundly through intuition or empathy. [Coined by Robert A. Heinlein in his Stranger in a Strange Land.] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/17 "2007-06-05T20:25:28Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] “grok”? 😕 [/QUOTE] [grumble grumble kids these days don’t know the classics] [grok](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grok) = understand in a visceral empathic way. It’s a Martian word from _Stranger in a Strange Land_ by Robert Heinlein. Very big back in the 60s and 70s. Edit: beaten to the punch, I see. Should preview, I guess ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/18 "2007-06-06T11:27:59Z")
[QUOTE=Cryptoderk] It was worse than nine… [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CEFDB1631F934A25755C0A965958260](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CEFDB1631F934A25755C0A965958260) [/QUOTE] Wow, nice Google-fu. That’s definitely the story I remember. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2007, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morbid-question-youngest-suicide/406808/19 "2007-06-06T12:06:03Z")
[QUOTE=Timchik] [grumble grumble kids these days don’t know the classics] [/QUOTE] I was thinking the same thing myself. [“Done because we are too menny”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jude_the_Obscure)