According to recent research from The Trevor Project, a leading LGBTQ youth suicide prevention organization, Latino LGBTQ young people report high mental health challenges, including suicidal thoughts: 44% of them seriously considered suicide in the past year. Also, 16% attempted suicide in the past year.
The report explores the unique mental health outcomes of LGBTQ youth who are Latino, noting that these high levels of mental health problems are even higher than in non-Latino populations.
According to research, the LGBTQ community of Latino origin carries multiple marginalized identities juxtaposed. This condition can increase their susceptibility to negative experiences based on both race or ethnicity and sexual orientation or gender identity.
Some key findings of the survey:
- 39% of Latino LGBTQ young people reported discrimination based on their race/ethnicity in the past year.
- 66% of Latino transgender and nonbinary young people reported discrimination based on their gender identity in the past year.
- 34% of Latino LGBTQ young people worried about themselves or someone in their family being detained or deported due to immigration policies, compared to only 5% of non-Latinx LGBTQ young people.
- 60% of Latin LGBTQ young people reported that someone tried to convince them to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Additionally, the report emphasizes that Latino LGBTQ young people experience unique stressors in addition to those common among all LGBTQ young people. Although the differences seem minor, Latinos reported higher rates of mental problems. Hispanic LGBTQ young people have 22% higher odds of suicide attempts in the past year compared to non-Latino LGBTQ young people.
Other findings
Self-harm, also termed non-suicidal self-injury: in the past year was reported by 60% of Latino LGBTQ young people. This compares to 54% of the overall sample of LGBTQ young people.
- Latino LGBTQ young people also reported higher rates of suicide risk when compared to the entire sample of LGBTQ young people: specifically, 44% of Latino LGBTQ young people seriously considered suicide in the past year, in contrast to 41% in the overall sample of
- LGBTQ youth.
- Across the sample, 16% of Latino LGBTQ young people attempted suicide in the past year, compared to 14% of all LGBTQ young people in the sample.
Obstacles for Accessing to Mental Health Care
The report shows that Latino members of this neglected community also deal with greater barriers than non-Latino people. Despite having higher rates of mental health concerns compared to the overall LGBTQ youth sample, Latino LGBTQ young people reportaron that often could not access the mental health care they wanted: 83% of Latino LGBTQ young people, reported wanting mental health care. However, 60% of Latinx LGBTQ young people did not receive the care they wanted, which is higher than for the full sample of LGBTQ young people (56%).
When asked about the barriers preventing them from receiving desired mental health care, nearly half of Latinx LGBTQ young people (49%) said they were afraid to discuss their mental health issues with someone else.
Also, other commonly reported barriers included not wanting to get parental permission (44%), fears of not being taken seriously (42%), concerns about affordability (40%), and doubts about the effectiveness of the treatment (35%).
Latino resilience, a protective factor
Despite the many stressors that Latino LGBTQ youth may face, the report indicates that they continue to find ways to thrive. This intersection of identities can also act as a protective factor, allowing young Latino LGBTQ members to draw strength from multiple identities and sources of pride. Therefore, it is important to consider aspects of their lived experiences that help mitigate the risks they face. Researchers point out that one of those protective factors for Latino youth is a strong connection to their cultural origin.
All LGBTQ youth in the sample were asked if their race/ethnicity was an important part of who they are. More than two in three (73%) said their race/ethnicity was a somewhat or very important part of who they were.
Latino LGBTQ youth who felt their race/ethnicity was an important part of their identity, were 24% less likely to attempt suicide in the past year compared to Latino LGBTQ youth who reported their race/ethnicity was not an important part of who they were. not at all important to them.
In general, the more important Latino LGBTQ youth's race/ethnicity was to who they were, the lower their rate of suicide attempts in the past year.
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