LGBQ Youth Far More Likely to Be Suicidal; Early Outreach Needed, Study Says

A new study, “Sexual Minority Status and Age of Onset of Adolescent Suicide Ideation and Behavior,” in the October 2021 Pediatrics (published online Sept. 27) found LGBQ youth—those who were identified in the research as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning—were far more likely than heterosexual peers to consider suicide at an earlier age. Researchers studied 1,771 young people who participated in the NEXT Generation Health Study, which started with 10th graders in 2009 and followed them through 2016 and found that sexual minority youth were more likely than their heterosexual peers to have ever seriously thought about suicide. In addition, sexual minority youth were more likely to make suicidal plans and their suicidal thought progressed more quickly into suicide plans than heterosexual youth. Researchers found that younger LGBQ youth seemed particularly at risk. In the survey, suicidal thought, planning suicide, and suicide attempts were more likely to be reported by LGBQ youth at younger ages, and survey respondents younger than age 15 displayed much riskier suicidal behavior than at ages 15 or older. Researchers concluded that LGBQ youth are at greater suicide risk and may benefit from psychosocial support and suicide screening from their pediatric provider. More research is needed to evaluate whether earlier and well-timed outreach efforts improve the effectiveness of suicide risk reduction efforts among LGBQ youth, the authors suggest.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.