Suicidal behavior in child psychiatric inpatients and outpatients and in nonpatients.

One hundred one child psychiatric outpatients were assessed using a standard battery of measures to identify factors associated with suicidal behavior. Data on these outpatients were compared to those for psychiatric inpatients and nonpatients previously studied. The frequency of suicidal behavior among the outpatients (24.8%) was less than for a comparable group of inpatients (78.5%) but more than for a comparable group of nonpatients (12%). Four variables--recent general psychopathology, preoccupation with death, and recent and past depression--were significantly associated with suicidal behavior in the three groups of children.