Photo/Illutration Changes in suicide mortality rates for 8-12 year olds (From the website of Japan Suicide Countermeasures Promotion Center)

The suicide rate among elementary school pupils has surged in recent years and tends to spike in the April to June period, after the start of the school year, a research paper showed.

The paper, titled “Characteristics of Preteen Suicide in Japan,” was published in JAMA Network Open, a general medical journal operated by the American Medical Association.

The researchers studied suicide statistics compiled by the central government from 2009 to 2023 to determine patterns and possible countermeasures.

“We need to provide appropriate intervention for children at high risk,” said Yuka Nishina of the Japan Suicide Countermeasures Promotion Center (JSCP), one of the authors of the paper.

Japan is the only Group of Seven country where suicide is the leading cause of death among teenagers.

However, there has been little background analysis about suicides among younger children, namely those between eight and 12, in Japan.

The researchers divided the suicide statistics into two periods: 2009 to 2015 and 2016 to 2023.

Over the entire period, 159 boys and 124 girls of elementary school age committed suicide.

The number of suicides per million children increased significantly, from an average of 2.84 in the earlier period to 4.03 in the later period.

Although the suicide rate for Japanese as a whole is higher among males than for females, the increase for girls between eight and 12 has been particularly conspicuous, the researchers said.

Also in the second period, the number of children who died between April and June increased 1.93-fold from the earlier period.

Rises in suicide numbers were also seen among 12 years olds and children in western Japan and rural areas.

“Jumping to one’s death” was an increasingly common method of suicide among children.

Although “jumping” accounted for 12 percent of all suicides in Japan from 2009 to 2023, the rate was 16 percent among elementary school pupils in the earlier period and 29 percent in the later period.

The researchers said it is evident that many suicides of children were impulsive because jumping requires less preparation than other methods.

The later period showed a particularly marked increase in the number of children with a “history of actual suicide attempts.”

“Focused intervention for children who have experienced suicide attempts is necessary,” Nishina said.

According to the health ministry’s preliminary figures released at the end of March, 529 elementary, junior high and high school students killed themselves in 2024, the highest number since 1980, when such statistics became available.

The research paper, which was published on Jan. 22, can be seen at: (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2829456)

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