Fewer LGBTQ Teens Plagued by Suicidal Thoughts, But Rates Still High

10th February, 2020

14 February 2020, Depression, News, Newsletter, School Psych, Self Harm, Suicide

[Source: Medical X-Press]

Suicidal behavior is declining among U.S. teenagers who identify as LGBTQ, but the problem remains pervasive.

That’s the conclusion of two new studies that tracked trends among U.S. teenagers over the past couple of decades. Over the years, more kids have been identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBTQ)—and their likelihood of reporting suicidal thoughts and behavior has gone down.

The bad news is they remain at much higher risk of suicide than their heterosexual peers, the researchers said.

In one study, LGBTQ teenagers were over three times more likely than heterosexual teens to report a suicide attempt. The other study charted a similar pattern, with LGBTQ kids still reporting a high prevalence of suicidal thoughts in 2017—and roughly a quarter saying they’d attempted suicide in the past year.

The studies, published online Feb. 10 in Pediatrics, could not dig into the reasons.

Read the Rest of this Article on Medical X-Press

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