(Reuters Health) - - Lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) teens are more than three times as likely to attempt suicide as their heterosexual peers, a U.S. study suggests.
In a national survey of almost 16,000 youth, about 25 percent of LBGQ teens said they had attempted suicide at least once in the previous year, compared with roughly 6 percent of heterosexual teens, researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Sexual minority youth were also more than twice as likely to contemplate suicide or plan a suicide attempt even if they didn’t go through with it, the study also found.
“LGBQ teens face staggeringly high suicide risks,” said senior study author John Ayers, a researcher at San Diego State University. Read more via Reuters