New Report Nearly Half of Multiracial LGBTQ+ Youth Seriously Considered Suicide Everyday Health
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Erin Brant/StocksyNearly half of multiracial LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered suicide in the past year. Those are the new findings in a report published this month by the LGBTQ+ youth mental health organization the Trevor Project. It’s been well established that LGBTQ+ youth are at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts compared with their straight and cisgender counterparts. But according to the Trevor Project, this research is among the first to consider how the intersectionality of identifying with more than one ethnic or racial identity affects suicide risk. “To our knowledge, this new report is the first of its kind to exclusively explore the mental health and well-being of multiracial youth who are LGBTQ, highlighting their unique mental health experiences, risk factors, and protective factors,” says Myeshia Price, PhD, the director of research science at the Trevor Project, who is a coauthor of the report. This data should inform future research and the development of interventions to help, says Nicholas E. Grant, PhD, a clinical psychologist and the president of GLMA, a national organization focused on promoting health equity for LGBTQ and all sexual and gender minority individuals. “Suicide prevention, intervention, and ‘post-vention’ programs and initiatives must be tailored to be based in cultural humility. We are long past the point where it is acceptable to simply identify that one model works for the majority,” he says. For the new research, 33,993 LGBTQ individuals ages 13 to 24 answered online surveys in late 2021; 4,379 reported that they identified with more than one race or ethnicity. Across nearly all the questions about feelings of anxiety and depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts, the young people who identified as multiracial were at higher risk than those who identified as monoracial. In most cases, those who identified as exclusively a youth of color had a higher risk than those who identified as white and another race or ethnicity. The data showed that when it came to suicide risk:48 percent of the multiracial youth reported seriously considering suicide within the past year, compared with 44 percent of those who identified as monoracial17 percent of the multiracial youth reported attempting suicide within the past year, compared with 14 percent of those who identified as monoracial Among those who identified as more than one race or ethnicity:52 percent who reported being exclusively a youth of color said they had seriously considered suicide in the past year, compared with 47 percent of those who identified as white and another race or ethnicity21 percent who reported being exclusively a youth of color said they had attempted suicide in the past year, compared with 16 percent of those who identified as white and another race or ethnicity The data also showed that multiracial youth were slightly more likely to report having had feelings of anxiety in the two weeks before taking the survey than monoracial youth (75 versus 72 percent). And among the multiracial youth, those who identified as exclusively a youth of color were slightly more likely to have such feelings than their peers who identified as white and another race or ethnicity. The trend was the same for youth who reported having feelings of depression in the prior two weeks: 60 percent of multiracial youth reported having such feelings, compared with 57 percent of monoracial youth; and 66 percent of those who identified exclusively as a youth of color reported having such feelings, compared with 59 percent of those who identified as white and another race or ethnicity.
Nearly Half of Multiracial LGBTQ Youth Seriously Considered Suicide in the Past Year
A new report is one of the first to look at mental health in queer youth that also considers the intersectionality of identifying as multiple races or ethnicities. By Sarah PragerAugust 24, 2022Fact-CheckedCompared with LGBTQ+ youth who identified as one race or ethnicity, those who identified as multiracial were more likely to have seriously considered or attempted suicide.Erin Brant/StocksyNearly half of multiracial LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered suicide in the past year. Those are the new findings in a report published this month by the LGBTQ+ youth mental health organization the Trevor Project. It’s been well established that LGBTQ+ youth are at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts compared with their straight and cisgender counterparts. But according to the Trevor Project, this research is among the first to consider how the intersectionality of identifying with more than one ethnic or racial identity affects suicide risk. “To our knowledge, this new report is the first of its kind to exclusively explore the mental health and well-being of multiracial youth who are LGBTQ, highlighting their unique mental health experiences, risk factors, and protective factors,” says Myeshia Price, PhD, the director of research science at the Trevor Project, who is a coauthor of the report. This data should inform future research and the development of interventions to help, says Nicholas E. Grant, PhD, a clinical psychologist and the president of GLMA, a national organization focused on promoting health equity for LGBTQ and all sexual and gender minority individuals. “Suicide prevention, intervention, and ‘post-vention’ programs and initiatives must be tailored to be based in cultural humility. We are long past the point where it is acceptable to simply identify that one model works for the majority,” he says. For the new research, 33,993 LGBTQ individuals ages 13 to 24 answered online surveys in late 2021; 4,379 reported that they identified with more than one race or ethnicity. Across nearly all the questions about feelings of anxiety and depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts, the young people who identified as multiracial were at higher risk than those who identified as monoracial. In most cases, those who identified as exclusively a youth of color had a higher risk than those who identified as white and another race or ethnicity. The data showed that when it came to suicide risk:48 percent of the multiracial youth reported seriously considering suicide within the past year, compared with 44 percent of those who identified as monoracial17 percent of the multiracial youth reported attempting suicide within the past year, compared with 14 percent of those who identified as monoracial Among those who identified as more than one race or ethnicity:52 percent who reported being exclusively a youth of color said they had seriously considered suicide in the past year, compared with 47 percent of those who identified as white and another race or ethnicity21 percent who reported being exclusively a youth of color said they had attempted suicide in the past year, compared with 16 percent of those who identified as white and another race or ethnicity The data also showed that multiracial youth were slightly more likely to report having had feelings of anxiety in the two weeks before taking the survey than monoracial youth (75 versus 72 percent). And among the multiracial youth, those who identified as exclusively a youth of color were slightly more likely to have such feelings than their peers who identified as white and another race or ethnicity. The trend was the same for youth who reported having feelings of depression in the prior two weeks: 60 percent of multiracial youth reported having such feelings, compared with 57 percent of monoracial youth; and 66 percent of those who identified exclusively as a youth of color reported having such feelings, compared with 59 percent of those who identified as white and another race or ethnicity.