Suicide Ideation Risk Among Sexual Minority Youth

• In Event: 40206 - Childhood at a Crossroads: The Battle Over Children’s Innocence and Agency

Abstract

Suicidal ideation is a serious health concern for youth. In general, suicidal ideation refers to thinking about, considering, or planning suicide. Estimates of the prevalence of suicidal ideation are quite variable depending on the sampling approach, definitions provided, the time frame used, and the ages included. Large random samples of high school youth find that about 11-13% engage in suicidal ideation, suggesting alarmingly high prevalence rates considering the seriousness. In addition to the general prevalence of suicidal ideation being problematically high, of further concern is the substantially higher prevalence rates among already-marginalized groups. Specifically, sexual minority youth are about 3-4 times as likely to consider suicide compared to their heterosexual peers. The present study expands on existing knowledge through: 1) an examination of contemporary suicide ideation prevalence rates by sexual orientation in a large, representative sample; 2) estimations of predictors of suicide ideation; and 3) an exploration of differences in predictors by sexual orientation. Data used come from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which is a large, representative sample of American high school youth. Analyses indicate that prevalence rates for suicide ideation continue to be alarmingly high among American youth. In the general sample, 17.8% of youth report having seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months. However, examining this by subgroups shows striking contrasts, with 13.1% of heterosexual youth reporting having seriously considered suicide, compared to 42.5% of sexual minority youth. Preliminary models indicate that all predictors in the model – demographics, victimization, and substance use – have significant effects, with some effects significantly differing by sexual orientation as well. Full model results and implications will be discussed.

Author

• Whitney DeCamp, Western Michigan University