Suicide is one of the least understood of human behaviors, especially the causes and factors associated with suicide in young children. To replicate and clarify an earlier study, which used a methodology for determining suicidal ideation in different groups of people by examining the thoughts and ideas they projected onto another, 2,386 subjects responded to stories about characters experiencing adversity. Subjects in the six studies included children, adolescents, college students, older adults, persons of low socioeconomic status, church members, community residents, mental health clients, and mental health workers. Men and women were also compared using subsamples of these populations. Results indicated that the methodology was effective in eliciting responses which reflected suicidal ideation. While 46% of the subjects projected suicidal ideation onto the characters, only 6 percent indicated that the subject would be considering any type of professional counseling. Self-destructive thinking occurred in children as young as 5 years. Results indicated differences in suicidal ideation among college students with different majors, but few differences between men and women, high and low socioeconomic groups, church and community samples, or the mentally ill and community samples. Mental health workers projected more suicidal ideation than community members, possibly reflecting their perceptions of other people rather than reported suicide rates for this group. (JAC)