Depression Rates Remain High For LGB Teens, Research Shows
In the past two decades, the percentage of teens suffering from depression has fallen, but the same cannot be said for gay, lesbian and bisexual kids, ‘UPI’ reports.
In research conducted in Massachusetts, back in 1999 nearly 3 out of 10 teens said they felt depressed. This number dropped by 5 percent by 2017.
Unfortunately, this drop has not included teens who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual (trans youth were not included in the survey) as the percentage has almost remained untouched from 1999 up until 2017 with 51% of LGB teens suffering from depression.
"To our knowledge, this is the first study to be able to look at data across nearly two decades to demonstrate that rates of depressed mood in sexual minority, compared to heterosexual youth, have not improved over time," said study author Alexandra Bettis.
"And this is not surprising, given that we see elevated rates of depression and other mental health problems in sexual minority youth," added Bettis, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, R.I.
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