Our primary objective was to examine prevalence rates of suicide behavior across 6 gender identity groups: female; male; transgender, male to female; transgender, female to male; transgender, not ...exclusively male or female; and questioning. Our secondary objective was to examine variability in the associations between key sociodemographic characteristics and suicide behavior across gender identity groups.
Data from the Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey (
= 120 617 adolescents; ages 11-19 years) were used to achieve our objectives. Data were collected over a 36-month period: June 2012 to May 2015. A dichotomized self-reported lifetime suicide attempts (never versus ever) measure was used. Prevalence statistics were compared across gender identity groups, as were the associations between sociodemographic characteristics (ie, age, parents' highest level of education, urbanicity, sexual orientation, and race and/or ethnicity) and suicide behavior.
Nearly 14% of adolescents reported a previous suicide attempt; disparities by gender identity in suicide attempts were found. Female to male adolescents reported the highest rate of attempted suicide (50.8%), followed by adolescents who identified as not exclusively male or female (41.8%), male to female adolescents (29.9%), questioning adolescents (27.9%), female adolescents (17.6%), and male adolescents (9.8%). Identifying as nonheterosexual exacerbated the risk for all adolescents except for those who did not exclusively identify as male or female (ie, nonbinary). For transgender adolescents, no other sociodemographic characteristic was associated with suicide attempts.
Suicide prevention efforts can be enhanced by attending to variability within transgender populations, particularly the heightened risk for female to male and nonbinary transgender adolescents.
Abstract This study examined associations among depression, suicidal behaviors, and bullying and victimization experiences in 1491 high school students using data from the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior ...Survey. Results demonstrated that depression mediated the association between bullying/victimization and suicide attempts, but differently for males and females. Specifically, depression mediated the link between traditional victimization and suicide attempts similarly across gender, whereas depression mediated the link between cyber victimization and suicide attempts only for females. Similarly, depression mediated the link between traditional bullying and suicide attempts for females only. Depression did not mediate the link between cyberbullying and suicide attempts for either gender. Implications of the findings are discussed, including the importance of greater detection of depression among students involved in bullying, and the need for a suicide prevention and intervention component in anti-bullying programs. Findings suggest that bullying prevention efforts be extended from middle school students to include high school students.
Transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents bear a disproportionate level of poor health, and adverse developmental and academic outcomes compared to their cisgender peers. In this article, I ...review evidence from recent research on minority stress and resilience among trans youth and advocate for two additional domains to be included when studying the experiences of trans youth from a minority stress perspective. I describe the variability across sexual‐minority and gender‐minority youth in experiences of minority stress across and within contexts. I advocate for explicit attention in minority stress models with gender‐minority youth to the domains of (a) intrapersonal and interpersonal gender dysphoria, and (b) access and use of affirmative and comprehensive health care.
Abstract Students’ perceptions of their school climates are associated with psychosocial and academic adjustment. The present study examined the role of school strategies to promote safety in ...predicting students’ perceptions of safety for gender nonconforming peers among 1415 students in 28 high schools. Using multilevel modeling techniques, we examined student- and school-level effects on students’ perceptions of safety for gender nonconforming peers. We found that older students, bisexual youth, Latino youth, and youth who experienced school violence perceived their gender nonconforming male peers to be less safe. Similarly, we found that older students and students who experienced school violence and harassment due to gender nonconformity perceived their gender nonconforming female peers to be less safe. At the school-level, we found that when schools included lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues in the curriculum and had a Gay-Straight Alliance, students perceived their schools as safer for gender nonconforming male peers.
Studies of adults who experienced sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) have documented a range of health risks. To date, there is little research on SOCE among adolescents and no known studies of ...parents' role related to SOCE with adolescents. In a cross-sectional study of 245 LGBT White and Latino young adults (ages 21-25), we measured parent-initiated SOCE during adolescence and its relationship to mental health and adjustment in young adulthood. Measures include being sent to therapists and religious leaders for conversion interventions as well as parental/caregiver efforts to change their child's sexual orientation during adolescence. Attempts by parents/caregivers and being sent to therapists and religious leaders for conversion interventions were associated with depression, suicidal thoughts, suicidal attempts, less educational attainment, and less weekly income. Associations between SOCE, health, and adjustment were much stronger and more frequent for those reporting both attempts by parents and being sent to therapists and religious leaders, underscoring the need for parental education and guidance.
School-based victimization is associated with poorer developmental, academic, and health outcomes. This meta-analytic review compared the mean levels of school-based victimization experienced by ...sexual minority youth to those of heterosexual youth, and examined moderators of this difference. Results from 18 independent studies (N = 56,752 participants) suggest that sexual minority youth experience moderately higher levels of school-based victimization compared to heterosexual youth (d = 0.33). This effect varied by two study characteristics: the average effect size increased over time and was larger in studies that had a greater proportion of male participants. Results highlight the need for future research on school-based victimization to include measures of sexual orientation and for interventions to include a component that addresses sexual orientation.
This article discusses key issues in the integration of an intersectionality lens in the developmental sciences and introduces a peer‐reviewed thematic journal issue on this topic. We begin by ...briefly situating the importance of an intersectionality lens within the changing demographics and sociopolitical history in the United States, and within developmental science as a field. We provide a brief overview of recommendations on responsible use of intersectionality in developmental science. We then introduce contributions contained within this volume, and how each contributor grappled with the following question: How can an intersectionality perspective inform the developmental phenomena of interest and particular developmental theories you draw upon in your area of research? We end by noting that these contributions offer a collection of manuscripts that aim to increase dialogue among developmental scientists on ways to productively integrate an intersectionality lens in developmental science.
Introduction
Plurisexual individuals represent 50% of sexual minority adolescent communities. However, most studies of sexual minority adolescents analyze this population as a homogeneous group ...rather than attending to plausible differences between plurisexual and monosexual sexual minority youth. This study examined whether plurisexual Latinx youth differed from monosexual youth on three facets of sexual orientation identity (SOI) development (exploration, resolution, and affirmation). Further, we examined whether plurisexual (vs. monosexual) identity moderated the relationship between SOI development and depressive symptoms and self‐esteem.
Methods
The sample included 365 Latinx sexual minority youth (14–24 years) living in the United States or US Territory. The majority of participants identified as monosexual (84.1%); 15.9% were plurisexual. The sample was 75.6% male, 19.5% female, and 2.0% transgender. Participants were asked to complete an online, cross‐sectional survey that asked questions pertaining to ethnicity and sexual orientation. This data was collected in the fall of 2014.
Results
Latinx plurisexual youth had higher levels of SOI affirmation, exploration, and resolution than monosexual youth. SOI affirmation and exploration and were positively associated with self‐esteem for all youth. SOI affirmation was significantly negatively associated with depressive symptoms for monosexual youth but not for plurisexual youth. SOI exploration and resolution were not significantly associated with depressive symptoms.
Conclusions
This study demonstrates that there are significant differences between plurisexual and monosexual Latinx adolescent populations in reference to identity affirmation, exploration, and resolution, and that these sexual orientations should be treated distinctly in future research. In addition, all three aspects of identity development were significantly related to higher self‐esteem for all youth regardless of identity, providing evidence for the importance of developing these three factors.
Latinx sexual minority adolescents and young adults experience sexual orientation-based victimization at school and may internalize these heterosexist experiences. However, social support may buffer ...the deleterious contributions of sexual orientation-based victimization. The current study explored associations between sexual orientation-based victimization and internalized homonegativity in different social contexts (family, peer, school adult) and across development (high school versus college) among 238 Latinx sexual minority adolescents and young adults (M = 19.03, SD = 2.28). Results indicated that sexual orientation-based victimization was positively associated with internalized homonegativity among Latinx sexual minority adolescents and young adults. Such associations were moderated by family support and the school level in the family context, such that in high school, family support exacerbated the association between sexual orientation-based victimization and internalized homonegativity. Yet, in college, family support mitigated that association. Findings also indicated that peer support exacerbated the association between sexual orientation-based victimization and internalized homonegativity in high school and college. No moderation of school adult support emerged in the context of school adults. Findings support the application of the minority stress model in Latinx sexual minority adolescents and young adults and highlight the complex moderating effect of social support across social contexts and development.
Few studies have examined how the amalgamation of minority stressors for youth with multiple marginalized identities is associated with well-being. Additionally, among youth with multiple ...marginalized identities, identity centrality may clarify the associations between specific types of minority stressors (i.e., bias-based peer victimization, perceived discrimination) and adjustment. This study sought to identify intersectional profiles of perceived peer victimization, perceived discrimination, and identity centrality, specific to either Latinx ethnicity or sexual minority identity in the United States. Demographic characteristics associated with each profile (i.e., age, socioeconomic status, gender nonconformity, survey language, gender, rurality) were examined, as well as associations between profiles and grade point average, self-esteem, and depression. In a sample of 219 in-school Latinx sexual minority youth (47% secondary, 53% postsecondary; Mage = 19 years, SD = 2.3), four profiles of intersectional minority stress (perceived victimization, discrimination) and identity centrality were identified: (a) low stress, low centrality; (b) low stress, high centrality; (c) moderate stress, moderate centrality, and (d) high stress, moderate centrality. Men, youth who were relatively older, socioeconomically advantaged, gender nonconforming, and those living in urban areas had higher probabilities of membership in profiles with moderate and high stress. Compared to the low stress, low centrality profile, profiles with higher levels of intersectional stress were associated with maladjustment, whereas the profile characterized by low stress, high centrality had higher levels of self-esteem.
Public Policy Relevance Statement
This study suggests that policies and interventions aimed at mitigating minority stressors such as bias-based victimization and discrimination should account for co-occuring minority stress processes (e.g., racism, heterosexism) in young people's lives. Further exploration of intersectional identity development processes and minority stressors, including as interventions against intersecting minority stressors, is needed.
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