Why Are Lgbt Students Committing Suicide More Than Non Transgender Students?

The problem of Suicide by LGBT Youth is that majority of them get bullied by their heterosexual peers. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014) Sometimes their parents will kick them out of the house because of their sexual orientation. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014) Myself being a part of the LGBTQ community, I never came out to my peers at school. I kept to myself so I never experienced the bullying due to my sexual orientation but I do hear the comments all the time by my father. My father always believed in a marriage should be a male and a female.

Classrooms, consisting of 9th-through-12th graders from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, were randomly sampled to complete the Boston Youth Survey. The correlation research study excluded schools that served adults, previously incarcerated students, suspended students, and severely disabled students to minimize introduction of confounding variables. Participants in the Boston Youth Survey (BYS) were asked specifically with regards to their individual-level sexual orientation and suicidal ideation and attempts among other questions. Of the 2725 individuals sampled, 1878 completed the survey and were asked, on the sexual orientation item in the BYS questionnaire, to identify themselves with 1 of 6 categories that best described themselves: (1) completely heterosexual, (2) mostly heterosexual, (3) bisexual, (4) mostly homosexual, (5) completely homosexual (i.e., gay or lesbian), or (6) not sure. Respondents were then asked explicitly "Have you seriously considered attempting suicide?" and "Have you actually attempted suicide? [within the 12 months preceding survey administration]" with yes and no response options for those questions (Duncan & Hatzenbuehler, 2014). To test their hypothesis, researchers then obtained LGBT hate crimes data with help from the Boston Police Department Community Disorders Unit and linked the community information to

Suicide has become one of the biggest social problems of our time affecting not only the gay community, but many others. Suicide will affect your life one way or another, that's the truth about it. Suicide is a day to day experience, you might have seen it happen, you might have been a victim, or you just might have heard it on the news. But everyone is aware that this is a serious issue. According to Oxford English Dictionary it defines suicide “as an act of taking one’s Life, one who dies by his own hands, self-murder.” It's such a deep definition but with many meanings, after digging some more I have found that there are many different types of suicide. For example, Egoistic suicide, Altruistic suicide and many more, each type has their own meaning and the cause for it. But how does suicide affect the gay community, and what are the affects leading to this final

The result of excessive bullying of LGBT kids in schools, for some, gets to the point where they feel like they have to end their life to be rid of it all. All the bullying is capable of leading a student to think suicide is the only option left for them. So many teenagers have taken their own life or have thought about taking their own life in the past couple of years. It isn’t far fetched either, in fact, “Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24” (The Trevor Project). Suicide being the 2nd leading cause of death-- from 10 to 24 year olds? It doesn’t stop from there. “1 out of 6 students nationwide (grades 9-12) seriously

Sexual and relationship violence in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is just as important as it is for straight men and women. It is also important that the LGBT community gets the same help and prevention treatment as other do. People in the LGBT community that are in college are most likely to experience sexual and relationship violence. They often are scared to

Extreme stories such as in the film Valentine Road where a white heterosexual student killed a transgender student of color at school, highlight the importance of violence prevention especially within schools. In this specific case, administrators supported the killer’s action because they claimed he was provoked by the transgender student’s gender expression. Other teachers stated that the transgender student should have expected to be beat up and attacked because he was perceived to be visibly and willingly different. GLSEN’s 2007 survey found that “over forty percent of LGBT youth were shoved, pushed, or otherwise physically harassed” due to their real or perceived sexual orientation and that “over thirty percent were physically harassed” due to their gender expression (Cianciotto and Cahill 37). School is clearly not a safe space for these individuals and many often miss school because they feel unsafe. Violence within schools also creates this vicious cycle that leads individuals to avoid going to school and becoming further isolated and discriminated against (Maher).

Suicide ideation are recurring thoughts of or preoccupation with suicide.1 Among the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) community, suicide ideation is prevalent. It is also the 2nd leading cause of death among LGB youth.1 Risk factors for suicide among the LGB community for suicide include but are not limited to: internalizing problems including withdrawal and anxiety, low self esteem, aggressiveness which can lead to rejection by peers and social isolation, bullying, familial rejection, and lack in social support.

lesbian teens are two to three times as more likely to commit teen suicide than other youths.

The youth in this marginalized group have elevated levels of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (Meyer, 2003). Suicidal ideation is a complex issue and it is important to try to understand why the LGBTQ youth is almost two and a half times more likely then heterosexual youth to attempt suicide (Baams et al., 2015). Scholars have suggested two theories, the minority stress theory and the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicide (IPT) to explain the increase seen in this marginalized group (Baams et al.,

Regretfully, suicide is the leading cause of death among gay and lesbian youth, and 30% of gay youth attempt suicide near the age of 15 (Speakforthem.org). It is estimated in 2010, the national average suicide costs $1,164,499.00 and $44.6 billion a year in combined medical work loss costs. This estimation factors in medical expenses, productivity loss corporate family that included

The majority of teenagers that commit suicide are LGBT. LGBT teenagers get bullied worse for being different than other people. This makes it harder for LGBT teenagers to fit in as a “normal” teen because many won’t accept their sexual orientation. Harold S. Koplewicz says, “According to a survey by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, approximately 90 percent of gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual middle and high school students report being physically or verbally harassed in 2009” (Koplewicz, pg.1). While LGBT teenagers get harassed, there is no one to stop this because no one usually cares about them. According to Koplewicz, parents or guardians of gay teenagers are sometimes “the last to know” there is an issue (Koplewicz, pg.1). When LGBT teenagers have a problem, they inform it to their parents. There are some parents that just hide the fact their child is gay. They find a way to think that the verbal and physical abuse that is caused on their child is not a problem. In this situation, LGBT teenagers feel helpless and the only way to stop their pain is suicide. Last year, my English teacher was discussing in class about LGBT suicide. There was this article that she told the class about, it was about Tyler Clementi. Tyler Clementi was a gay college student, a musician, and he was living in a dorm. His roommate was Ravi. Ravi always exposed Tyler for being gay until one day he decided to have a

With the research and statistics given, one can conclude that youth whom identify as LGBT have a greater chance of being mistreated than their heterosexual peers. Those children suffer from a tremendous amount of depression and suicidal thoughts due to the inconsideration of their peers. Understanding that when it comes to statistics( generally) and regarding the surveys given to the students mentioned in the literature review, some of those students may or may not have been 99.9% truthful,. However, taking into consideration the sample amount, for example, the 75,344 youth surveyed, the results were recorded and submitted into a national database. LBGT youth are targeted for reasons that could well be infinite. Although, the one I mentioned out of Dr. Nassem’s article on Why Do Children Bully when she mentions popularity are one of the many explanations a bully could conjure to validate their victimization of another human being. Valid point from a psychologists points of view, yes maybe to explain the mental process of a young child or adolescent, but valid for the person being victimized. The numbers showed the results of negative actions performed by adolescent youth and the reaction of

Brian Mustanski and Richard Liu’s study elucidated predictors of suicide attempts of LGBT youth (2013). Their study revealed two important findings; first, the strongest predictor of attempted suicide was the feeling of hopelessness caused by a lack of social support for the LGBT community, and the stigmatization of gender non-conformity and same-sex attractions (442-5). Second, their study revealed that LGBT youth are twenty-eight percent more likely than heterosexual youth to suffer from mental health disorders such as major depression, conduct disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder—all of which have a strong positive correlation with suicide attempts (447-9).

Violence towards members of the community has always been a huge issue. Lesbian, gay and transgender people, especially those of color, experience violence at disproportionately high rates compared to straight cisgender people. According to the FBI, bias against sexual orientation and

There are known positive influences against LGBT+ suicide, however. Family support is one; other positive factors include: Family connectedness. Reduced stress. Caring adults. Supportive workplaces and neighbourhoods. School safety and positivity. Equal rights under the law.