LGBTQ Youth Struggle with Mental Health Challenges, but Resilience Remains
In the last couple of years, studies have shown that the state of mental health for LGBTQ youth is tumultuous. The Human Rights Campaign earlier in 2023 declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ Americans, and the rights and mere existence of queer and trans youth have been the basis of many legislative and educational discussions of late.
According to The Trevor Project’s 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People, 41 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.
Youth who are trans, nonbinary and/or people of color reported higher frequencies of attempted suicide than their peers. The survey shows that approximately half of trans and nonbinary youth found their school to be gender-affirming; those who experienced a gender-affirming school reported lower rates of attempting suicide.
Plus, almost one third of LGBTQ youth survey respondents said that their mental health was poor most of the time or always because of anti-LGBTQ policies and legislation. “I would say that it makes a lot of sense when we have these institutionalized policies, these sorts of systemic injustices, that they can contribute to worsened mental health outcomes,” said Dr.
