Mental Health Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr (LGBT) Youth - PMC

Contents:

• REARCHERS FD DISPARI SUICI RISK AMONG LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL ADULTS
• PEOPLE WHO ARE GAY, LBIAN OR BI HAVE MORE MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE E PROBLEMS, SURVEY FDS
• MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) YOUTH
• DEPRSN AND SUICIDALY GAY MEN: IMPLITNS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIRS
• DEPRSN IS KILLG GAY MEN
• NEW DATA ON LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL MENTAL HEALTH

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. “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. 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.

PEOPLE WHO ARE GAY, LBIAN OR BI HAVE MORE MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE E PROBLEMS, SURVEY FDS

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.

Dpe creasg acceptance of the LGBTQ+ muny, at least some circl, adults who intify as gay, lbian or bisexual are more likely than those who intify as straight to have ser thoughts of suici and mental health ndns cludg major prsive episos, and they are more likely to mise substanc like alhol or dgs, acrdg to a new US ernment report. However, gay, bi and straight men seemed to have siar substance e patterns: There was no difference smokg between straight and gay mal, for example, and the rate of bge and heavy drkg the month before they took the survey was the same among gay, bi and straight men. “LGBT dividuals experience addnal strs as a rult of discrimatn and stigma, stigma both at the societal level but also the way that livg a society that privileg heterosexualy that has homophobic laws and polici to sort of teach LGB people even to view themselv as ferr, ” Kidd said.

MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) YOUTH

“For stance, you n image beg environments that might be validatg of people who have gay and lbian inti but might eher not regnize bisexual inty – so they are sort of visible that space – or might be really validatg of dividuals wh bisexual inty, even while the environment is affirmg or at least a ltle more ntral to folks who are gay or lbian, ” Kidd said. Published fal eded form as:PMCID: PMC4887282NIHMSID: NIHMS789458AbstractToday’s lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) youth e out at younger ag, and public support for LGBT issu has dramatilly creased, so why do LGBT youth ntue to be at high risk for promised mental health?

Yet the first public and rearch attentn to young LGBTs foced explicly on mental health: A small number of studi the 1980s began to intify ncerng rat of reported suicidal behavr among “gay” youth, and a US feral report on “gay youth suici” (Gibson 1989) beme ntroversial both polics and rearch (Rsell 2003). Historil trends social acceptance the Uned Stat show, for example, that 43% of US adults agreed that “gay or lbian relatns between nsentg adults should be legal” 1977; by 2013 that number had grown to 66% (Gallup 2015).

DEPRSN AND SUICIDALY GAY MEN: IMPLITNS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIRS

2014) sum, chang societal acceptance of LGBT people have ma g out possible for ntemporary youth, yet the age of g out now tersects wh the velopmental perd characterized by potentially tense terpersonal and social regulatn of genr and sexualy, cludg homophobia. We then highlight studi that foc on factors that protect and foster rilience among LGBT to the 1970s, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s (APA’s) Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM) listed homosexualy as a “socpathic personaly disturbance” (Am. 1948, 1953) and psychologil parisons between heterosexual and gay men (Hooker 1957) fostered a change attus om the psychologil muny and motivated the APA’s removal of homosexualy as a mental disorr 1973 (although all ndns related to same-sex attractn were not removed until 1987).

Generally, Meyer (2003) poss three strs procs om distal to proximal: (a) objective or external strsors, which clu stctural or stutnalized discrimatn and direct terpersonal teractns of victimizatn or prejudice; (b) one’s expectatns that victimizatn or rejectn will occur and the vigilance related to the expectatns; and (c) the ternalizatn of negative social attus (often referred to as ternalized homophobia).

As a rult, lbian and gay youth livg unti wh fewer sexual orientatn and genr inty (SOGI)-specific antibullyg polici are twice as likely to report past-year suici attempts than youth livg areas where the polici were more monplace (Hatzenbuehler & Key 2013) wh school environments, is also important to nsir youths’ muny ntext.

DEPRSN IS KILLG GAY MEN

E., those wh more protectns for same-sex upl, greater number of registered Democrats, prence of gay-straight allianc (GSAs) schools, and SOGI-specific nondiscrimatn and antibullyg polici] are ls likely to attempt suici even after ntrollg for other risk ditors, such as a history of physil abe, prsive symptomatology, drkg behavrs, and peer victimizatn (Hatzenbuehler 2011). Importantly, although rat of bullyg crease over the urse of the adolcent years, this trend is ls pronounced for gay and bisexual pared to heterosexual mal, leavg the youth vulnerable to the experienc for longer perds of time (Robson et al. For example, Poteat (2015) found that youth who engage more LGBT-based discsns wh peers and who have LGBT iends are more likely to participate LGBT-affirmg behavr and tervene when hearg homophobic remarks (see also Kosciw et al.

Rults om a three-year longudal study showed that parison to LGB youth who dated other-sex partners, those who dated same-sex partners experienced an crease self-teem and a crease ternalized homophobia for men and women, rpectively (Bermeister et al. At one extreme, the Tennsee legislature failed to pass the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would have ma illegal for teachers to discs homosexualy wh stunts; at the other, the “Mental Health Servic for At-Risk Youth” bill California allows youth ag 12 to 17 to nsent to mental health treatment whout parental permissn and was signed to enable LGBT youth to seek mental health servic pennt of parental nsent. 2008): In a sample of adult gay men, experienc of parental sexual orientatn–related rejectn was a strong predictor of gay-related rejectn sensivy, pecially among those who reported high levels of ternalized homophobia.

For example, a study of 77 gay male llege stunts showed that young gay men’s psychosocial functng (cludg openns wh their sexual orientatn) was improved through exprsive wrg that targeted gay-related strs, pecially for those who reported lower social support or who wrote about more severe topics (Pachankis & Goldied 2010). E., substance e)Genr intyone’s sense and subjective experience of genr (malens/femalens), which may or may not be nsistent wh birth sexSexual orientatnendurg sense of emotnal, sexual attractn to others based on their sex/genrSOGIsexual orientatn and genr intyGSAGay-Straight Alliance school clubSexual intyself-label to scribe one’s sexual orientatn, such as lbian, gay, bisexual, or straightCBOmuny-based anizatnFootnotDISCLOSURE STATEMENTThe thors are not aware of any affiliatns, memberships, fundg, or fancial holdgs that might be perceived as affectg the objectivy of this review.

NEW DATA ON LBIAN, GAY AND BISEXUAL MENTAL HEALTH

Related to this, gay men’s health has often been fed by sexual practic, and poorly unrstood are the tersectns of gay men’s physil and mental health wh social termants of health cludg ethnicy, lole, tn level, and socenomic stat.