Research finds kids as young as 5 can experience suicidal thoughtsChildren and suicide: Five years old and struggling(WISH) — Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for young people in the United States. Some children are experiencing suicidal thoughts far earlier than many parents ever imagined. New research is identifying warning signs in kids as young as 5, 7 and 10. “Historically, we have thought that kids younger than the age of 12 don’t actually experience suicidal thoughts, but increasingly we started seeing some numbers creep up,” Miller said. We definitely had 6-year-olds who would endorse these thoughts,” Miller said.