Nearly a third of gay youths have attempted suici, study fds

Contents:

• REARCHERS FD DISPARI SUICI RISK AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ADULTS
• REARCHERS FD DISPARI SUICI RISK AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ADULTS
• NEARLY A THIRD OF YOUNG GAY PEOPLE HAVE ATTEMPTED SUICI, STUDY FDS
• STUDY HIGHLIGHTS DIFFERENC BETWEEN GAY, STRAIGHT SUICIS
• GAY, BISEXUAL MEN HAVE LOWER SUICI RISK MORE TOLERANT UNTRI
• SUICI ATTEMPTS AMONG GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN: LIFETIME PREVALENCE AND ANTECENTS
• GAY SUICI

REARCHERS FD DISPARI SUICI RISK AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ADULTS

Suici risk among lbian, gay, and bisexual adults vari nsirably pendg on the tersectn between sexual inty and other aspects of inty, such as genr, age, and race/ethnicy, acrdg to a study led by rearchers at the Natnal Instute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the Natnal Instut of Health. The study, which examed data om a natnally reprentative survey of adults the Uned Stat, also showed that lbian, gay, and bisexual adults are overall more likely to report suici-related thoughts, plans, and attempts wh the past 12 months pared wh heterosexual adults.

REARCHERS FD DISPARI SUICI RISK AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ADULTS

The fdgs, published the Amerin Journal of Preventive Medice, dite that the tersectn of multiple social inti may pound suici risk for some lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals. “This study monstrat the importance of askg about sexual inty natnal data llectn efforts, and highlights the prsg need for suici preventn servic that addrs the specific experienc and needs of lbian, gay, and bisexual adults of different genrs, ag, and race and ethnic groups, ” said Rajeev Ramchand, Ph. Prev rearch has shown that, when examed as a group, adults who intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual have higher rat of suicidal thoughts and attempts relative to heterosexual adults.

As part of the survey, participants reported their sexual inty (heterosexual, lbian or gay, bisexual, or don’t know), and whether they had had suicidal thoughts, suici plans, or suici attempts at any time the past 12 months.

In le wh prev rearch, the NSDUH data showed that rat of all three suici-related behavrs—thoughts, plans, and attempts—were generally higher among lbian, gay, and bisexual adults than among heterosexual adults. After takg mographic factors to acunt, the rearchers found that suici risk was three to six tim greater for lbian, gay, and bisexual adults than for heterosexual adults across every age group and race/ethnicy tegory. When the rearchers looked at the specific tersectn between mory sexual inty and race/ethnicy, they found that whe and Black women who intified as bisexual were more likely to report suicidal thoughts relative to whe and Black women who intified as lbian or gay.

NEARLY A THIRD OF YOUNG GAY PEOPLE HAVE ATTEMPTED SUICI, STUDY FDS

Lookg at the tersectn between mory sexual inty and age, the rearchers found that suicidal thoughts were also relatively higher among bisexual women the 35-64 group pared wh lbian or gay women the same age group. Suici is the send leadg e of ath among young people aged 10 to 24 (Hegaard, Curt, & Warner, 2018) — and lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, and qutng (LGBTQ) youth are at signifintly creased youth are more than four tim as likely to attempt suici than their peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020) Trevor Project timat that more than 1.

News ReleaseTuday, November 9, 2021Suici risk among lbian, gay, and bisexual adults vari nsirably pendg on the tersectn between sexual inty and other aspects of inty, such as genr, age, and race/ethnicy, acrdg to a study led by rearchers at the Natnal Instute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the Natnal Instut of Health. In le wh prev rearch, the NSDUH data showed that rat of all three suici-related behavrs — thoughts, plans, attempts — were generally higher among lbian, gay, and bisexual adults than among heterosexual adults. Suici rat among young people have been on the rise recent years, acrdg to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn, but gay and bisexual youths are almost five tim as likely to have attempted suici as their straight, spe advanc the fight for LGBTQ equaly, a new report fds that young gay people today are even more likely to have attempted suici than prev generatns.

Rearchers at the Williams Instute, a sexual orientatn and genr inty thk tank at UCLA School of Law, found that 30 percent of lbian, gay and bisexual rponnts ag 18 to 25 reported at least one suici attempt, pared to 24 percent of those 34-41 and 21 percent of those study, published last month the journal PLOS One, also revealed that the young adults are experiencg higher levels of victimizatn, psychologil distrs and ternalized homophobia than olr generatns.

STUDY HIGHLIGHTS DIFFERENC BETWEEN GAY, STRAIGHT SUICIS

""But one of the first narrativ I listened to was om an 18-year-old Lato om San Francis, and his narrative was the same as we've heard for generatns — homophobia, excln, shame. Cril to remember is that the more openly people talk about suici and homosexual suici and the ls stigma people feel around the issu, the more people n succsfully fight back agast LGBTQIA+ suici. Homophobia — wh fai, schools, muni and even doctors and unsellors offic — is a key e, acrdg to the Still Here project wh the Men’s Health Rearch Program at the Universy of Brish Columbia.

As a postdoctoral rearch fellow nursg at the Universy of Brish Columbia, I work on the Still Here project to engage gay and bisexual men who have prevly stggled wh suici (or who have lost another gay or bisexual man to suici) to tell their stori through photographs. Subgroups at an creased risk of suicidal behavr, a new study sh a spotlight on the ways which suici among sexual mori differs om that of their heterosexual study, published late last month the Amerin Journal of Preventive Medice, is thought to be the first to e a large body of ernment data to exame suicis of gay mal and lbians. "Compared to heterosexuals, the report found gay men who killed themselv were likelier to have had a diagnosed mental health ndn, a history of suicidal thoughts or plans, an argument before ath and a crisis around the time of ath.

GAY, BISEXUAL MEN HAVE LOWER SUICI RISK MORE TOLERANT UNTRI

Like gay men, lbians were also likelier than heterosexuals to have had a diagnosed mental health ndn prr to suici and were likelier to have tried to signal their sire to attempt suici before dog study also pared the "most monly ed mechanism of jury” for straight and gay people who took their own liv.

For gay men, the likelit method of suici was “hangg/strangulatn/suffotn" (38 percent); for lbians was “hangg/strangulatn/suffotn” (36 percent) and firearms (35 percent) that when pared to straight youth, lbian, gay and bisexual youth are five tim more likely to attempt suici, the study suggts “a need to nduct suici preventn activi across age groups, cludg youth. ”Another signifint fdg is that lbian and gay people are likelier than straight people to have reported a “prsed mood” or “timate partner problems and arguments” before dyg by suici. 72 MB] has shown that around 40% of gay men experienced sexual vlence (other than rape) their lifetime and around 47% of bisexual men experienced sexual vlence (other than rape) their lifetime.

Acrdg to data om the Youth Risk Behavr Survey (YRBS) nducted durg 2001-2009 seven stat and six large urban school districts, 14% to 31% of gay and lbian stunts across the s and 17% of 32% of bisexual stunts across the s had been forced to have sexual terurse at some pot their liv.

SUICI ATTEMPTS AMONG GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN: LIFETIME PREVALENCE AND ANTECENTS

Two 5 LGBTQ youth the Uned Stat have "serly nsired" suici the past year, a soberg survey released Wednday said, showg what one expert lled the "vastatg mental health nsequenc" of society's failure to create a safer and more affirmg environment for Ameri's queer 2020 Natnal Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health by The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth crisis terventn and suici preventn anizatn, pats a stark picture of pervasive mental distrs among Ameri’s lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer youth, wh a majory reportg symptoms nsistent wh generalized anxiety disorr and major prsive survey, the largt of s kd, polled 40, 000 LGBTQ people between ag 13 and 24 and found that 68 percent of the rponnts reported symptoms of generalized anxiety disorr, 55 percent reported symptoms of major prsive disorr and 48 percent reported engagg self-harm. WASHINGTON — Gay and bisexual men who move om a untry wh high stigma toward LGBTQ people to one more acceptg of LGBTQ rights experience a signifintly lower risk of suici and prsn, acrdg to rearch published by the Amerin Psychologil Associatn. The study, which ed data om 48 untri, bolsters prev rearch showg that a untry’s anti-LGBTQ laws, polici and social attus create stctural stigma, which may negatively impact the mental health of gay and bisexual men.

This study ed a new approach to tt the negative mental health nsequenc of stctural stigma by examg data om gay and bisexual men who moved between untri wh differg levels of stctural stigma. “Our study found that gay and bisexual men had a lower risk of prsn and suicidaly when they moved om higher-stigma untri to lower-stigma untri, pecially when they had lived the new untry for five years or longer, ” said lead study thor John Pachankis, PhD, an associate profsor of public health and director of the LGBTQ Mental Health Iniative at the Yale School of Public Health. The survey asked participants qutns signed to asss their mental health as well as other factors, such as the extent to which they felt pelled to nceal their sexual orientatn, ternalized negative attus they held toward homosexualy and how socially isolated they felt.

“The study shows that stctural stigma shaped gay and bisexual men’s daily liv and mental health by creasg their risks for social isolatn, ncealment of their inty, and ternalized homonegativy, ” he said. For the smaller number of gay and bisexual men who moved om lower- to higher-stigma untri, there wasn’t an creased risk for suicidaly and prsn, possibly bee growg up a more tolerant society had some lastg mental health benefs. Mental health profsnals workg high-stigma environments across the world should nsir addrsg the ternalized homonegativy and social isolatn of LGBTQ clients, while advotg for chang to laws, polici and societal stigma directed agast LGBTQ people, Pachankis said.

GAY SUICI

Analys were nducted to pare rat of serly nsirg suici and attemptg suici the past 12 months among youth ag 13 to 18 our sample to the 2019 YRBS sample of lbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) high school stunts.

Although primarily based on opportunistic sampl, prr rearch suggts that gay men, lbians, and bisexual persons have higher rat of suicidal iatn, suici attempts, and pleted suicis than do heterosexual dividuals. Lifetime prevalence rat of ser suicidal iatn rangg om 24% to 41% have been reported, along wh lifetime prevalence rat of suici attempts rangg om 7% to 20% among adult gay men and lbians. 4–12 The available evince13 suggts that the relative risk for ser suici attempts among gay and bisexual mal is substantially greater than that among their heterosexual unterparts, but basic epimlogil rearch on suicidal behavr this populatn is both sparse quanty and ficient qualy, plagued by methodologil fics, particularly wh rpect to samplg.