(FamilyConservationPAC.com) – In the “Youth Risk Behavior Study” (YRBS), which surveyed high school students, “sexual identification” was divided into two categories: “heterosexual” and “LGBQ+.”
According to how they “identify,” survey participants categorized their sexual orientations as “heterosexual,” “lesbian,” “gay,” “bisexual,” “questioning,” or “another non-heterosexual identity.”
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey released in February, “LGBQ+” high school students experience considerably higher feelings of hopelessness, melancholy, and suicidality than “heterosexual” kids do.
To gather information on high school students “who identify as transgender,” the CDC committed to including a question about “gender identity” in assessments in the years to come.
The results of the YRBS show that “LGBQ+” high school students had a rate of poor mental health that was more than twice as high in the 30 days before they took the survey.
Compared to 52 percent of “LGBQ+” students, only 22% of “heterosexual” students reported poor mental health the previous month.
35 percent of “heterosexual” students responded “yes” when asked if they had felt depressed or hopeless regularly over the preceding year, as opposed to 69 percent of “LGBQ+” students.
15 percent of “heterosexual” students and 45 percent of “LGBQ+” students reported having “seriously pondered” trying to end their lives in the preceding year.
More specifically, 12% of “heterosexual” high school students reported having “formed a suicide plot throughout the last years,” compared to 37% of their “LGBQ+” counterparts.
Compared to 22% of “LGBQ+” students, just 6% of “heterosexual” students reported having attempted suicide in the preceding year.
Seven percent of “LGBQ+” students and one percent of “heterosexual” students reported being hurt during a suicide attempt.
The YRBS emphasized that “LGBQ+” students had higher rates of substance misuse and mental distress than their “heterosexual” peers:
LGBQ+ students and those with same-sex partners were more likely than their peers to have used or misused all substances included in this report (i.e., ever used select illicit drugs, ever or current prescription opioid misuse, and current alcohol, marijuana, and electronic vapor product use).
They were also significantly more likely to experience all forms of violence.
The differences in mental health, compared to their peers, are substantial. Close to 70% of LGBQ+ students experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness during the past year, and more than 50% had poor mental health during the past 30 days. Almost 25% attempted suicide during the past year.
According to a CDC information sheet based on the results of the YRBS, “Lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ+) teenagers were much more likely to have experienced all forms of violence and had worse mental health outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts.”
The CDC highlighted deteriorating trends for high school students overall across many of its well-being variables in 2021 compared to earlier years.
The CDC stated in the YRSB’s executive summary that “almost all other indicators of health and well-being in this report, including protective sexual behaviors (i.e., condom use, STD testing, and HIV testing), experiences of violence, mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, significantly worsened.”
What are your thoughts?
Do you believe LGTBQ+ kids are healthier and happier than their heterosexual peers?
Copyright 2023, FamilyConservationPAC.com
