A Kansas City psychologist is urging parents not to dismiss suicidal talk or behavior in young children, warning that preteens are dying by suicide at rates that have climbed for nearly two decades. Dr. Jennifer Keller, associate chief operating officer of behavioral health at University Health in Kansas City, says the instinct among many parents is to assume a child is seeking attention or not being serious — and that assumption can be dangerous.
Keller made the comments during an appearance on KCUR's Up To Date program earlier this month. According to provisional CDC data cited in that conversation, 194 children between the ages of 8 and 12 died by suicide in 2025. Keller said parents should take young children's suicidal behavior seriously, particularly because of how impulsive kids that age can be.
A Trend Nearly Two Decades in the Making
The warning isn't based on a single year's numbers. Suicide deaths among children ages 8 to 12 have increased by nearly 8% annually since 2008, according to the National Institutes of Health. A National Institutes of Health study published in JAMA Network Open found that while hanging and suffocation remained the most common methods overall, suicide by firearm increased at the fastest rate among preteens over that period.
Keller pointed to social media and pressure around extracurricular performance and grades as contributing factors behind the rising rates, the KCUR report notes. She also described a developmental piece that complicates how adults should interpret a young child's words or actions: kids can be more impulsive because their brains aren't fully developed, and they may lack a full understanding of the finality of a decision like suicide.
Why Parents Misread the Warning Signs
That combination — impulsivity paired with limited understanding of consequences — is part of why parents often think a young child's suicidal talk or behavior is attention-seeking or not serious, per the same account. Keller's message runs counter to that instinct: parents should take preteens' suicidal talk or behavior seriously, given their potential for impulsivity and limited understanding of consequences.
The pattern Keller describes locally echoes what researchers have documented nationally for years. In 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children's Hospital Association jointly declared a national state of emergency in child and adolescent mental health. The declaration came amid a 31% increase in emergency department visits for mental-health concerns; suspected suicide attempts among girls increased by more than 50%, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Regional Numbers Add Pressure
The strain is visible closer to home, too. In Kansas, suicide was the second-leading cause of death for early adolescents ages 10 to 14 and youth ages 15 to 24 between 2016 and 2020, and the state's youth suicide rate rose 63.8% between 2001–2005 and 2016–2020 — from 13.0 to 21.3 per 100,000 — significantly outpacing the national increase of 41.1%, according to the Kansas Health Institute.
Across the state line, suicide made up nearly 60% of all violent deaths in Missouri in 2023, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has reported. Among Missouri children from birth through age 18, suicide was the third-leading cause of death in 2023. Hoodline has previously reported that Missouri lost 20% of its residential youth mental health treatment facilities between 2020 and 2026, and describes day-treatment schools as an intermediary option for districts in its report on a Kansas City therapy campus.
Clinical Screening as a Key Intervention Point
National pediatric groups frame routine screening as one of the most reliable ways to catch risk before it becomes a crisis. Suicide and self-injury accounted for 34% of all pediatric emergency department visits at children's hospitals nationwide in 2024, according to a 2025 report from the Children's Hospital Association.
Firearm access remains a concern within that broader picture. Firearms are used in U.S. suicides, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Schools can play a role in youth mental-health policy and suicide prevention.
Keller's core message to parents remains straightforward: a young child talking about suicide or showing warning signs should not be brushed off as a phase or a bid for attention. The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available by calling or texting 988.
