By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
That's among the informaton contained in the new Youth Mental Health Tracker, released Wednesday.
The Youth Mental Health Tracker, a new database released Wednesday by a coalition of organizations, highlights the challenges that LGBTQ+ young people face compared to their straight and cisgender peers.
Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate's email newsletter.
“LGBTQ+ young people are really struggling more than non-LGBTQ+ when you look at every measure … we’re finding that they’re having much tougher life experiences — discrimination, parents that don’t support them,” says Hannah Kemp, vice president, strategic client delivery, at Surgo Health, which launched the tracker in partnership with Pivotal, a network of organizations founded by Melinda French Gates, and Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios.
The tracker looks at the mental health and wellbeing of U.S. youth as a whole. Its developers say it is the most comprehensive database on these issues. The first round of data was gathered from a nationally representative sample of 4,509 U.S. residents aged 10 to 24, with an oversampling of young people who are LGBTQ+, BIPOC, or facing financial challenges. The survey used through phone interviews, online panels, and social media outreach. Eventually, data will be collected from 10,000 young people.
The tracker seeks to provide information on both mental health and wellbeing. “Good mental health is defined as having minimal clinical and subclinical conditions such as depression, anxiety, and loneliness,” says a white paper released by the organizations. “In contrast, good mental wellbeing is defined as a state of feeling content, maintaining positive relationships, and having a sense of purpose and fulfillment which is marked by experiences of happiness, life satisfaction, positivity, optimism, and resilience.”
The data gathered so far indicates that many young Americans are doing well, with 47 percent of the total saying they haven’t experienced significant mental health struggles over the past two years and a majority reporting satisfaction with life and general happiness. Among those with mental health issues, half still felt optimistic about the future and considered their lives meaningful.
The numbers for LGBTQ+ youth are very different, however. Only 11 said they hadn’t had major mental health challenges in that period and were satisfied with life and happy overall. And among those with mental health challenges, only 32 percent remained optimistic and felt what they are doing in life is meaningful.
“Mental health and wellbeing outcomes are far more disturbing for LGBTQ+ youth,” says Angela Kimball, chief advocacy officer at Inseparable, an organization campaigning for measures to improve mental health care. Inseparable collaborated with Surgo Health on policy recommendations based on the information gathered in the tracker.
As to the reasons for these outcomes, LGBTQ+ youth definitely have more negative life experiences than straight and cis young people, as documented in the white paper. Seventy-six percent have experienced discrimination based on their gender and/or sexual orientation. Also, the white paper notes, “they are 2.6 times more likely to have lived with a parent or adult who insulted or put them down, and 2.5 times more likely to have not had their basic needs met.”
Among other populations in the data set, girls generally reported worse outcomes than boys, youth with financial struggles worse than those who were financially secure, and mixed-race young people worse than white or Asian youth.
However, many LGBTQ+ youth, even those with mental health struggles, report finding a helpful outlet in creative activities. And while some have had negative experiences on social media, “we do find that LGBTQ+ youth in particular are going on social media to foster social connections with others and explore their identity,” says Adele Wang, senior research scientist at Surgo.
Policy recommendations for improving outcomes for all youth include promoting life skills training for students, such as empathy, building healthy relationships, coping skills and self-management, responsible decision-making, and self-awareness; helping them find safe and reputable online resources; developing resources to help parents and caregivers talk with young people about mental health; establishing paid family leave for those caring for youth with mental health challenges; promoting physical health for youth, including exercise, good sleep habits, and healthy eating; integrating mental health services in schools and primary care; and ensuring comprehensive insurance coverage for mental health care.
“They’re not the kind of medicalized interventions that we’re used to having public policy focus on,” Kimball says. “We need to expand how we think of supporting youth and promoting their wellbeing.”
“What we can do is really support schools and communities and families to wrap around youth and help them feel supported and understood and valued,” she continues. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for instance, offers what it calls the "Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child" framework, with online resources for developing that supportive environment. “That particularly can be helpful for LGBTQ+ youth while at the same time helping all youth. … What’s good for those who are often most marginalized is often something that is helpful to every student, so it’s a win-win situation,” Kimball notes.
However, exclusionary policies being adopted by schools, such as banning books dealing with LGBTQ+ or racial issues, or not affirming transgender students’ identity, will have a negative impact, she acknowleges.
“One of the biggest challenges here is that some of the best ways to support youth are somewhat difficult to legislate, but we do know what’s harmful and we do know what’s helpful,” Kimball adds. “And we need to start focusing on policies that will bring people together."
