The Social Determinants of LGBT Youth Suicidality in England
Charlotte Goddard
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
International research has consistently found young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) are at a higher risk of suicide and self-harm compared with heterosexual peers.
- Report: The Social Determinants of LGBT Youth Suicidality in England
- Published by: Journal of Public Health, September 2018
SUMMARY
Researchers wanted to find out what factors were associated with LGBT young people's experience of suicidal feelings and self-harm. They interviewed 29 young people online and face-to-face. They also analysed data from 789 online questionnaires completed by 13- to 25-year-olds living in England and identifying as LGBT who had experience of suicidal feelings and/or self-harm.
Most respondents were older than 16 with 41.4 per cent between the ages of 17 and 19, and 51.7 per cent aged 20 to 25. A fifth - 20.7 per cent - were lesbian while 31 per cent were gay. Another fifth - 20.7 per cent - identified as pansexual or queer, 13.8 per cent as bisexual, and 13.8 per cent "other". When it came to gender identity, 37.9 per cent were female, 20.7 per cent male, 6.9 per cent were trans female, 17.2 per cent trans male and 17.2 per cent described themselves as "other".
The interviews uncovered five factors, or "social determinants", associated with LGBT young people's suicidal feelings. These included homophobia, biphobia or transphobia, including school bullying or family rejection and sexual and gender norms that caused participants to feel something was wrong with them. Other factors included the stress of managing sexual and gender identities across different parts of their life such as school and home, being unable to talk about their emotions, feelings and identity, and other crises unrelated to sexual orientation or gender identity such as family breakdown. These factors were used to design the questions for the online survey.
The survey found 70.8 per cent of participants had experienced homophobia, biphobia or transphobia. Researchers found those who experienced abuse were more likely to plan or attempt suicide than those who had not. However, those who felt negatively about their LGBT identity, regardless of whether they had experienced abuse or not, were also at greater risk of suicidal behaviour.
Respondents that had self-harmed were more than seven times more likely to report they had planned or attempted suicide than those who had not self-harmed. Young people who were unable to talk about their emotions and those who were affected by homophobic, biphobic or transphobic abuse were more than twice as likely to plan or attempt suicide. Young people with transgender identities were 1.5 times as likely to plan or attempt suicide and nearly twice as likely to have self-harmed as non-transgender young people. Young people with disabilities were more than twice as likely to self-harm and more than twice as likely to plan or attempt suicide than young people without disabilities.
Most respondents - 89 per cent - said there were other life crises that caused them distress when they were self-harming or feeling suicidal. The most frequently chosen options were academic pressure, problems with friends and bullying. Other issues causing distress included family breakdown, illness, financial problems and romantic relationships ending.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The researchers say public mental health suicide prevention efforts need to address the five factors they have identified, especially in relation to transgender young people. They call for universal interventions that tackle bullying and discrimination in relation to LGBT in schools, as well as selected interventions that provide specific LGBT youth mental health support.
FURTHER READING
Queer Youth, Suicide and Self-harm: Troubled Subjects, Troubling Norms, Elizabeth McDermott and Katrina Roen, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016
Sexual Orientation and Symptoms of Common Mental Disorder or Low Wellbeing: Combined Meta-analysis of 12 UK Population Health Surveys, Joanna Semlyen and others, BMC Psychiatry, March 2016
Transgender Youth and Life-Threatening Behaviours, Arnold Grossman and Anthony D'Augelli, Suicide and Life-threatening Behaviour, October 2007