Child and adolescent mental health problems are an important public health problem in Australia. The appropriate balance between funding provided for clinical interventions focusing on individual children and families and funding for interventions that focus on populations, requires careful study. The latter are an essential component of any strategy to reduce mental health problems as the high prevalence of problems makes it unlikely that individual care will ever be available for all those needing help. Clinical and population health interventions must take into account the comorbid problems experienced by children with mental disorders.

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SUMMARY Twenty children under 14 years of age who were admitted to hospital following a suicide attempt were compared to 50 psychiatrically ill non‐suicidal inpatients of similar age. Suicidal behaviour was associated with mostly the male sex, personal experiences of significant losses, academic under‐achievement, marital disintegration among the parents and past intrafamilial violence, including physical abuse of the index child. Although suicide behaviour was not a prerogative of a particular social class, a number of factors producing high risk for poverty were present among a proportion of the families. In both samples there was a high incidence of ongoing illness in the families and a high incidence of perinatal difficulties concerning the index child were reported. Suicidal children did not have a past history of antisocial behaviour and their classroom behaviour was unremarkable.

Large-scale epidemiological studies have the potential to provide considerable information about the mental health of children and adolescents. However, having a clear set of aims, ensuring that the scope of the study remains within manageable proportions and paying careful attention to the details of fieldwork are essential to ensure that high-quality data is obtained in such studies.