Sexual Minority Status and Age of Onset of Adolescent Suicide Ideation and Behavior

• Published in: Pediatrics (Evanston) 2021-10, Vol.148 (4), p.1
• Main Authors: Luk, Jeremy W, Goldstein, Risë B, Yu, Jing, Haynie, Denise L, Gilman, Stephen E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Age; Age of Onset; Demographic aspects; Female; Gay teenagers; Gay youth; Health aspects; Health Surveys; Heterosexuality - psychology; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; LGBTQ people; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Pediatric research; Pediatrics; Psychological aspects; Risk factors; Sexual and Gender Minorities - psychology; Sexual minorities; Suicidal behavior; Suicidal behaviour; Suicidal Ideation; Suicide; Suicide, Attempted - statistics & numerical data; Suicides & suicide attempts; Teenagers; United States; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0031-4005; 1098-4275
• DOI: 10.1542/peds.2020-034900

To determine if sexual minority adolescents have earlier onset of suicidality and faster progressions from ideation to plan and attempt than heterosexual adolescents. A population-based longitudinal cohort of 1771 adolescents participated in the NEXT Generation Health Study. Participants reported sexual minority status (defined by sexual attraction) in 2010-2011 and retrospectively reported age at onset of suicidality in 2015-2016. Sexual minority adolescents (5.8% of weighted sample) had higher lifetime risk of suicide ideation (26.1% vs 13.0%), plan (16.6% vs 5.4%), and attempt (12.0% vs 5.4%) than heterosexual adolescents. Survival analyses adjusted for demographic characteristics and depressive symptoms revealed positive associations of sexual minority status with time to first onset of suicide ideation (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.77; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03-3.06) and plan (HR = 2.69; 95% CI 1.30-5.56). The association between sexual minority status and age at onset of suicide attempt was stronger at age