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Differences in Mental Health Symptoms Across Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Questioning Youth in Primary Care Settings
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Differences in Mental Health Symptoms Across Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Questioning Youth in Primary Care Settings

Annie Shearer, Joanna Herres, Tamar Kodish, Helen Squitieri, Kiera James, Jody Russon, Tita Atte and Guy S Diamond
Journal of adolescent health, v 59(1), pp 38-43
Jul 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.02.005
PMID: 27053400
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.02.005View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Adolescent Anxiety Behavioral Symptoms - psychology Female Humans Internet Male Physician-Patient Relations Primary Health Care - methods Risk Sex Factors Sexual and Gender Minorities - psychology Sexual Behavior - psychology Substance-Related Disorders - psychology Surveys and Questionnaires Young Adult
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ) youth exhibit significantly higher rates of mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and nonsuicidal self-injury than their heterosexual peers. Past studies tend to group LGBQ youth together; however, more recent studies suggest subtle differences in risk between sexual minority groups. This study examined differences in mental health symptoms across male and female youth who are attracted to the same sex (gay and lesbian), opposite sex (heterosexual), both sexes (bisexual), or are unsure of whom they were attracted to (questioning) in a sample of 2,513 youth (ages 14-24 years). Data were collected using the Behavioral Health Screen-a Web-based screening tool that assesses psychiatric symptoms and risk behaviors-during routine well visits. Bisexual and questioning females endorsed significantly higher scores on the depression, anxiety, and traumatic distress subscales than did heterosexual females. Lesbians, bisexual females, and questioning females all exhibited significantly higher lifetime suicide scores than heterosexual females. Interestingly, bisexual females exhibited the highest current suicide scores. Gay and bisexual males endorsed significantly higher scores on the depression and traumatic distress subscales than did heterosexual males. Gay males also exhibited higher scores on the anxiety subscale than heterosexual males, with bisexual males exhibiting a nonsignificant trend toward higher scores as well. Findings highlight varying level of risk across subgroups of LGBQ youth and suggest the importance of considering LGBQ groups separately in the context of a behavioral health assessment, especially for females.

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24 Record Views
83 citations in Web of Science
88 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#5 Gender Equality
#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Web of Science research areas
Pediatrics
Psychology, Developmental
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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