Transgender, gay, and non-binary teens have worse mental health than other generations, according to a recent study by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ youth. School policies have been shown to contribute to their mental health problems.
This data comes from The Trevor Project’s 2024 National Survey on Mental Health, which was collected from more than 28,500 LGBTQ+ youth in the United States. Now in its sixth year, the study provides researchers with a comprehensive look at the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth. There is one bright spot. According to senior researcher Jonah DeChants, there is strong evidence that supportive behaviors by adults in their lives have a measurable impact on the mental health of LGBTQ+ youth.
Some of the organization’s latest findings show that supportive behavior by adults have a visible impact Research on the mental health of transgender and non-binary youth who have recently been targeted by restrictive school policies. The data comes from the organization’s 2024 National Survey on Mental Health, which surveyed more than 28,500 LGBTQ+ youth in the United States.
Now in its sixth year, the survey provides researchers with a wide range of information about the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth. The Trevor Project study, as well as data from other studies, show that LGBTQ+ youth have worse mental health than other generations, and that policies targeting them are exacerbating their mental health problems. is consistently found.
How to show support
One positive finding from the Trevor Project data is that rates of depression and anxiety reported among LGBTQ+ youth are higher than those aged 18 to 24 compared to those aged 13 to 17. This means that it is slightly lower than that of young people.
Dechanz explains that two hypotheses for this decline are that LGBTQ+ youth simply have more control over their lives and are able to express themselves more freely after age 18; The general idea is that as people mature, their mental health improves.
“You can develop better coping mechanisms or seek medical care that starts to work,” DeChants says. “Of course, some people experience poor mental health in their 20s, but in general, adolescence is a tough time for humans with brains.”
Transgender and nonbinary youth overall report higher rates of anxiety and depression than cisgender youth.
The Trevor Project asked transgender and non-binary youth (TGNB on the graph) how people live their lives. can show support. The most common response was “I believe I know who I am.”
Survey participants specifically said they wanted their parents and caregivers to be kind to them, speak respectfully to their LGBTQ+ friends and partners, support gender expression, respect pronouns, and learn about LGBTQ+ issues. .
“Our data on schools and more broadly tells the same story: LGBT youth have access to people who support them,” DeChants said. Counselors report improved mental health and reduced suicide risk. ”
The same goes for students attending schools with what DeChants calls affirmative policies, such as gender-neutral restrooms and school chapters. Alliance of gender and sexuality.
Only 6% of transgender and nonbinary youth said their caregivers participated in all supportive behaviors that applied to them.
About 60% said their caregivers did about half of the support activities, and 17% said their caregivers did nothing.
The researchers found that “a single increase in supportive behaviors from parents or caregivers was associated with a 6 percentage point lower odds of attempting suicide in the past year.”
real world effects
The latest survey data was collected during what The Trevor Project called a record year for anti-LGBTQ+ policies in public schools.
These policies “have been around for some time, but they’re really in line with the zeitgeist now, like banning transgender kids from sports or restricting them from accessing single-sex school facilities. Even when we’re talking about prohibition,” DeChants said. “They are now being proposed and passed in record numbers, which is why it was so important for us to ask about that in our latest survey.”
As a result, as anti-LGBTQ policies in schools increase; The number of LGBTQ+ students has increased as well Reported anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, or suicide attempt within the past year.
“The fact that all four of these outcomes are highly correlated; [to anti-LGBTQ+ policies]To me, that speaks to how pervasive and powerful that relationship is beyond the numbers,” says DeChants.
Almost one-third of survey participants enrolled in schools said their school had at least one anti-LGBTQ+ policy. The percentage of Native and Indigenous LGBTQ+ students was as high as 36%. Students in the southern United States were also more likely to report their school had at least one anti-LGBTQ+ policy.
Students in schools with anti-LGBTQ+ policies also reported higher rates of discrimination-related harassment, including verbal harassment, physical attacks, and discipline for fighting back against bullies.
Collection of diverse samples
DeChants said The Trevor Project wanted to attract as diverse a sample of the LGBTQ+ community as possible, including demographics such as race, income and location.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but we have an opportunity to really try to capture a broader perspective than those who are confined to their local communities or don’t have the same resources.” “There is,” he says. [a] I think there’s a more nuanced or intersectional picture, and that’s partly what makes our findings really powerful. ”
Small sample sizes can exclude entire racial groups from the analysis, DeChants explains. This is because the number of racial groups is too small to yield meaningful results compared to other groups. As with his previous work as an academic researcher, having access to samples of 40 or fewer people makes his job even more difficult, Dechanz says.
“This is a major limitation in the broader field and a major cause of the lack of knowledge about underrepresented or numerically under-dense groups of people,” he says.
DeChants says young people want to see themselves reflected in the data. Some have called for The Trevor Project to delve deeper into demographics, such as asking participants about their physical abilities and whether they are on the autism spectrum. We also receive requests from advocates who need local data and people who want to know how to act on what they learn. Some of these questions have led The Trevor Project to create guides on topics such as: Support mental health Transgender and non-binary youth.
“Getting young people to say, ‘Yes, this actually correlates with improved mental health’ is very powerful,” he says. “I think this work will give both adults and other young people the following feeling. [they] And we have data that actually shows that those behaviors are actually correlated and have an impact. ”
