Suicide attempt rates for LGBT teens still high
PHILADELPHIA — Attempted suicide rates of LGBT high school students are down six percent over a nearly 10-year period but the rates are still about three times as high as those for their straight counterparts, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other outlets report citing research published in the journal Pediatrics based on data from the Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance Survey from 2009-2017.
Research also found the numbers of out U.S. teens doubled during that period from 7.3 percent in 2009 to 14.3 percent in 2017. Girls were more than twice as likely as boys to be out as LGBT. Those who had experimented wth same-sex sexual contact went from 7.7-13 percent over the same period, the Inquirer reports.
These new findings, particularly the disproportionate rate of suicide attempts, dramatically point out the need for increased efforts to assist and support these young people, according to the researchers, the Inquirer reports.
The sexual contact numbers were based on data from Delaware, Connecticut, Illinois and Rhode Island, the four states that continuously collected that information from 2009 to 2017, the Inquirer reports.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24.
Published at Sat, 15 Feb 2020 19:24:38 +0000