Recognition of the existence of a high incidence of suicide among youth stimulated study of the developmental characteristics of suicidal behavior. A developmental psychopathologic framework offers opportunities to delineate features of suicide and nonfatal suicidal behavior for distinct age-specific intervals along the human life cycle and to discern continuities and discontinuities in predictors, precipitants, and correlates of suicidal behavior. In addition, it provides insights into designing prevention and intervention strategies for suicidal behavior appropriate to age and context of specific groups of people. This article presents empiric information about the phenomenology of suicidal behavior among prepubertal children, describes early predictors of suicidal behavior apparent in childhood for incidence of suicidal behavior in adolescence, and discusses retrospectively identified risk factors present in the childhoods of youth who commit suicide.