PolicyLab

LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience depression and thoughts and attempts of suicide than their cisgender, heterosexual peers.

However, new research utilizing Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Adolescent Health Questionnaire found that the prevalence of depression and suicidal thoughts among LGBTQ+ youth were significantly reduced when teens felt supported by their parents.

These findings underscore the critical role families play in helping these youth live healthier lives and highlight primary care visits as a unique opportunity to engage with youth and families to positively enhance mental health.

Because adolescents are screened for depression every year in primary care settings, primary care clinicians are on the frontlines of response for mental health concerns. This positions the primary care setting as a unique opportunity for facilitating supportive family interactions and integrating family-centered interventions.

Our new Research at a Glance brief elevates these findings that build an evidence base for primary care interventions to improve the mental health of LGBTQ+ youth by enhancing family support and underscores the need for more research to better understand the protective effect of this support, develop best practices for interventions, and consider care team and payment models that help to deliver them.

Read the brief here.