- Having accessible, positive LGBT role models becomes very important in alleviating 
distress among LGBT people of all ages – not just the young.
- Research has shown that where LGBT youth feel an increased sense of belonging in school there is a concomitant decrease victimization, depression and psychological distress.


Positive Role Models

- Informal support structures that are non-institutional are believed to help reduce deliberate self-harm and suicidal behavior. 
- Such structures may include online chatrooms and forums, and as Thomas (2002) has shown, sometimes these online interactions can become physical support groups (meeting in coffee shops), particularly in locations where LGBT people have few organized opportunities to socialize.

Informal Support Structures

- Previous authors have also attested to the protective nature of engagement in activities such as voluntary work, attending organized LGBT groups, engaging in sports or physical activities, or education-related activities. 
- It is not surprising therefore that many of participants found LGBT social networks an effective means of support through sharing experiences with others and developing a sense of community. 

Protective Nature of Engagement in Activities

For many participants, their suicide attempts were marked by the social 
asymmetries they experienced in their interactions with others, and by their inability to 
implement effective coping strategies to deal with them. 

Common Factors in Suicide Attempts

Participants indicated that family support for their sexual orientation or gender identity, and feeling safe in school would have had a positive impact on well-being early on. Interventions aimed at encouraging greater self-esteem and positive role models for LGBT youth could have had a potentially protective effect against suicide risk.

Protective Factors for Suicidality

This study discusses the following topics based on its findings:

- Positive Role Models
- Informal Support Structures
- Engagement in Activities
- Common Factors in Suicide Attempts
- Protective Factors for Suicidality


Arizona State University

- Evidence suggests that lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people are more likely to attempt to take their own lives in their youth when compared to heterosexuals. 
- This study draws on in depth interviews with 17 LGBT individuals living in England, and explores the narratives used by participants to better understand their perceptions of risk and protective circumstances to explain suicide attempts in youth.

Suicidality Among LGBT Youth

Rivers, I., Gonzalez, C., Nodin, N., Peel, E., & Tyler, A. (2018). LGBT people and suicidality in youth: A qualitative study of perceptions of risk and protective circumstances. Social Science & Medicine, 212, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.06.040

LGBT People and Suicidality in Youth: A Qualitative Study of Perceptions of Risk and Protective Circumstances

- There is limited understanding of the dimensions of sexual orientation and transgender status that are most meaningfully related to suicidality. 
- Surveys conducted in the United States (US) estimated that between 25 percent and 43 per cent of transgender adults report a suicide attempt over their lifetime. 
- Several experiential factors have been suggested which may predict suicidal behaviour among LGBT young people. These include experiences of homophobia, social isolation, substance abuse, and parental and sexual abuse. 
- However, it has been difficult for researchers to identify a common set of risk factors
because they appear to be multiple and cumulative, and, importantly, they are also
interconnected with problems common among young people generally. 

Justification for this Study

- This analysis draws upon 17 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with
adult LGBT participants who reported having attempted suicide as young people.
- Using a sample of extracts drawn from those interviews, we provide a rich understanding of participants’ perceptions of the circumstances that related to their own attempted suicide in youth.
- To be eligible for this study, participants needed to self-identify as LGB or T, be over 18 years of age, and at least 6 months had passed since their last suicide attempt which was judged to be life threatening (whether they had intended to die or not). 

Study Methodology

- Participants were aged between 26 and 52 years at the time of interview. 
- The average age at which participants indicated they made their first suicide attempt was 17.6 years (SD = 3.4 years; range 11-24 years). Average number of years between first suicide attempt and their age at the time of interview was 19.9 years (SD = 8.9 years; range 6-34 years). 
- Nine participants reported one suicide attempt, with the remaining participants reported two or more such attempts.
- Six participants identified as female, 10 as male and one gender-queer. One identified as bisexual, nine as gay, four as lesbian and three as ‘other’. Two identified as trans (one trans man and one trans woman).
- While the focus of the study was experiences in England, some
participants had migrated to England from a wide variety of countries; therefore, the sample represented an international perspective in terms of early influences.

Study Participants

- These findings offer an insight into the complex and often multifaceted experiences of a sample of LGBT adults who recounted their narratives of growing up – often in hostile or unaffirming environments. 
- Experiences of rejection by intimate partners, peers, friends and, not
insignificantly, family members represent a thread we see running through all of our participants’ stories.
- Several themes were identified across participants. 


- Theme 1: Conflicts of being ‘out’: Stressors associated with LGBT suicide attempts in
early life.
- Theme 2: Concurrent mental health problems.
- Theme 3: Grieving over lost relationships.

Results of the Study

Study Discussion

- Study Limitations 
- Generalization of the Study


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