Healthline: New Research Highlights How Parents Can Best Support Their LGBTQ Kids

“An adult can play a very big role in shaping a young person’s life.”

When asked why parental and guardian support can have such a tangible effect on a young LGBTQ person’s overall mental health, Kyle T. Ganson, PhD, MSW, assistant professor who is part of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto, said that one’s adolescence and young adult years mark a key moment of “Identity formation, personal exploration, and testing one’s independence from their family.

“While there is often the narrative that young people don’t need their primary caregivers or don’t want anything to do with them, they often still need their caregivers to provide and maintain that secure base to return to as they test their identity and independence,” said Ganson, who is not affiliated with the research brief from The Trevor Project. “They need these strong relationships that have been built over the years for comfort, support, and love, particularly through difficult times.”

Ganson said that for LGBTQ youth specifically, the accepting, validating base of support that a parent or guardian can provide “may be particularly important” given how many young people experience elevated rates of social stigma, bullying, and the “stressors while living as a ‘minority’ in the ‘majority’ world.”

When it comes to discussions around the elevated risk of suicide among LGBTQ youth, DeChants said it is important to note that queer youth are “not inherently prone” to suicide risk or suicidal ideation because of their gender identity or sexual orientation. Instead, they are “placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in a society.”

“If a young person can grow up in a household that respects and supports them for who they are, that developmental experience can play a powerful role in destigmatizing the LGBTQ community and combating misinformation around what it means to be part of this community,” DeChants explained.

“Respectful discussion communicates to LGBTQ youth that their families see them for who they are and want to support them, and may also make LGBTQ youth more likely to reach out to parents or caregivers if they experience anti-LGBTQ bias or are struggling with their mental health,” he added.

Ganson said that LGBTQ youth are unique compared to their cisgender and straight peers, in that they have explored their gender and sexual identities “and often come to a conclusion one way or another in relation to these identities well before their caregivers are cued into this.”

As a result, a parental figure might be “caught off guard or surprised or even doubting” of that young person’s identity, he said.

This doubting of something as personal as gender identity or sexuality can have adverse effects on a young person’s mental health, especially since these adult figures are often the main sources of support for these youth.

They usually are the ones providing a reserve of “unconditional love and support” that a young person can turn to, especially during difficult times.

“So, even if a caregiver is uncertain of their youth’s gender or sexual identity, or don’t fully understand their experience, engaging in conversations with their youth from a stance of respectful curiosity can provide validation and support without being rejecting,” Ganson said. “It shows care, openness, and willingness to be there for them, which may ultimately reduce negative feelings among the youth such as low self-esteem and self-worth, depressive thinking patterns, and isolation.”

He added this can “reduce suicidal thinking patterns and behaviors,” and that the respect given to a young person from an adult guardian can open doors for dialogue on a range of topics tied to their day-do-day life, which, yes, includes gender and sexuality, but also social life, mental health, school, and friends.

DeChants pointed to past research from The Trevor Project that shows that support and affirmation of both sexual orientation and gender identity from adults and peers are tied to lower suicide risk for LGBTQ young people.

While parental affirmation is important, he explained that research shows support of one’s sexuality from heterosexual friends is tied to 46 percent lower odds of suicide attempt in the past year. Similarly support of one’s gender identity from “non-parent family members” is tied to 49 percent lower odds of past-year suicide attempt.

“However, given that parents and caregivers often spend such a significant amount of time with LGBTQ youth at home, parents and caregivers may have many more opportunities to show support to their children,” he added.”

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