New CDC Report: LGB Youth Face ‘Heartbreaking’ Level of Risk for Violence, Suicide Attempt, Bullying

New Data From the CDC Show the Need for Fully Comprehensive Support for LGB Students

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released a startling new national report on Thursday on the health risks lesbian, gay, and bisexual high school students face, including violence, bullying, suicide attempt, depression, and drug and alcohol use. The study, which was conducted between September 2014 and December 2015, shows that “significant health disparities exist between sexual-minority and non sexual-minority youth.”

In 2015 the CDC added two new questions to the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which keeps track of certain health-risk behaviors and allowed for this new, LGB-specific data to be collected. The behaviors tracked by the YRBS are those that “contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; sexual behaviors related to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection; alcohol and other drug use; tobacco use, unhealthy dietary behaviors; and inadequate physical activity.”

Dr. Jonathan Mermin, a senior official at the CDC told The New York Times, “I found the numbers heartbreaking.”

Some of the most startling findings from the report were released in a “Dear Colleagues” letter from the CDC:

•More than 40% of LGB students seriously considered suicide and 29% reported attempting suicide in the past year.

•Sixty percent of LGB students reported having been so sad or hopeless that they stopped doing some usual activities.

•LGB students were up to 5 times more likely than other students to report using several illegal drugs.

•More than 1 in 10 LGB students have missed school during the past 30 days because of safety concerns.

Across the board, the risks faced by lesbian, gay, and bisexual students were higher than those of their non-LGB peers. 18% of LGB students report being forced to have sex (5% of non-LGB); 23% of LGB students report being victims of sexual violence (9% non-LGB) and 34% being bullied online or in school (19% non-LGB).

“The intensity of homophobic attitudes and acceptance of gay-related victimization, as well as the ongoing silence around adolescent sexuality, marginalizes a whole group of young people,” Dr. Elizabeth Miller, the chief of adolescent and young adult medicine at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, told the Times. That marginalization increases their vulnerability to exploitative and violent relationships.”

The report continues on to show an elevated risk of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, along with “stigma, discrimination, family disapproval, and social rejection.” While the report admits there are not enough data to fully compare health-risk behaviors of sexual-minority youth to non-sexual minority youth, it is clear that LGB youth still face incredible hurdles and even dangers on a daily basis. Findings also show the need for comprehensive support for LGB youth that spans families, organizations, and schools to create safe and healthy resources.

The full report can be viewed here.

 

Image by Sam T via Flickr and a CC license