iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Suicides in young kids appear to have important differences from suicides in adolescents and teens, a new study published in Pediatrics finds, shedding light on the need for special approaches to this group of young people.

Notably, suicide rates of black elementary school aged children between 2003 and 2012 nearly doubled when compared to the same demographic group between 1993 and 2002 – though the total number of suicides studied is likely too small to make any solid conclusions as to the absolute validity of this rise.

Researchers at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital compared individual characteristics and precipitating factors of children, aged 5-11 years, to those of early adolescents, 12-14 years, in 693 suicide cases. Compared to early adolescents, children who died by suicide were more commonly male, black, died by hanging/strangulation/suffocation, and died at home.

Children who committed suicide were more likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and experience problems with family members and friends than their early adolescent counterparts.

The study also found that in both groups with alcohol or substance abuse who died by suicide, more tested positive for opiates, rates higher than alcohol and other substances.

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