SUICIDES among young children here have dropped significantly in the past few years, with none occurring in the first 10 months of last year.

In 2000 and 2001, Singapore had one of the highest child suicide rates in the world - with six children between the ages of 10 and 14 taking their lives each year.

Among youth aged 15 to 19 years, 22 killed themselves in 2001 - the highest in a decade. From January to October last year, it had fallen to nine.

'Every kid who kills himself is one more unnecessary death. Their problems are always solvable,' said Dr Chia Boon Hock, a psychiatrist in private practice who has made suicide his area of study.

Both Dr Chia and child psychiatrist Daniel Fung attribute the falling suicide rates to greater awareness among teachers and parents of emotional distress in children.

Dr Fung was one of seven doctors who carried out a study of more than 2,000 schoolchildren in 2003 and 2004, to find out how mentally stressed they were.

The results, published in last month's Singapore Medical Journal, surprised even the psychiatrists involved: It was not school stress that was driving children to suicide. It was their relationship with their parents or teachers that was causing them such angst.

Dr Fung, who is with the Institute for Mental Health, said half the kids who committed suicide wrote notes that were 'very telling' about such relationships.

Dr Fung said what the survey threw up appeared to be: 'It didn't matter if the child didn't do well in school. It did matter if he didn't do well and the teacher or parent was unhappy, and he felt that he hadn't fulfilled their expectations.'

It was distress over falling short of their parents' or teachers' expectations that pushed these kids over the edge.

The study also found that one in eight children suffered from some serious emotional disorder. And almost one in 20 children said they wanted to kill themselves.

While these figures are already worrying, they might be too conservative, said Dr Fung. This is because the 40 per cent of respondents who declined to be interviewed were from the lower socio-economic strata. Suicides and emotional distress in this group tend to be higher.

A few years ago, the health and education ministries took the high suicide rates to heart and have since provided support with school counsellors and teachers who are more aware of children's needs.

Dr Chia said: 'We cannot remove the stress from our society. But we can teach our children to cope.'

Dr Fung added: 'We want our kids to face pressure because pressure is important. Stress is not a bad thing. Kids need to learn to deal with stress and still succeed in whatever they choose.

'People are a precious commodity. We need to build people up, and it starts from the time they are children.'

What the study shows is that there is a group of children who suffer from emotional disorders. They need to be looked after.

But Dr Fung, a father of five, said it did not mean children should not be disciplined. 'If they are unhappy when a parent makes them finish their food or go to sleep at a certain time, that's all right.

'They are unhappy for the moment, but that parent has a relationship with the child.

'Being loved doesn't mean that they don't get scolded. The scolding and punishment must be in the context of the care.'

salma@sph.com.sg

This story was first published in The Straits Times on Jan 2, 2008.

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