Tinerii adulți LGBT care își amintesc mai multă acceptare în familie au raportat mai puțină depresie și tentative

Acceptarea familiei în adolescență și sănătatea tinerilor adulți LGBT

Authors: Caitlin Ryan, Stephen T. Russell, David Huebner, Rafael Diaz, Jorge Sanchez
Journal: Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing
Year: 2010
Source: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6171.2010.00246.x

Summary

This Family Acceptance Project study surveyed 245 LGBT young adults in California, asking them to recall how accepting their parents had been of their sexuality and gender expression when they were teenagers. Those who remembered more accepting parents reported better self-esteem, support and general health, and less depression, drug and alcohol problems and suicidal thinking and attempts. For example, 31% of the high-acceptance group had ever attempted suicide versus 57% of the low-acceptance group. The authors concluded that family acceptance protects LGBT youth and called for family programs. But the survey was done once and relies on adults' memories, so it cannot show that acceptance caused better health. Only about 22 people were trans, too few to say much about accepting a trans identity.

Key findings

245 de tineri adulți LGBT cu vârste între 21 și 25 de ani, împărțiți egal între latino și albi, au fost găsiți în 249 de localuri, baruri și cluburi LGBT din regiunea golfului San Francisco.
Doar aproximativ 9% (circa 22 de persoane) se identificau ca trans; majoritatea erau gay sau lesbiene (70%).
Acceptarea de către familie a fost măsurată rugând adulții să-și amintească anii de adolescență, folosind 55 de întrebări bazate pe propriile interviuri ale autorilor cu 53 de adolescenți LGBT și familii.
Cei care își amintesc o acceptare ridicată aveau scoruri de depresie de aproximativ jumătate față de cei care își amintesc o acceptare scăzută și mai puține gânduri suicidare în ultimele șase luni (19% față de 38%).
31% din grupul cu acceptare ridicată încercaseră vreodată să se sinucidă, față de 57% din grupul cu acceptare scăzută; acceptarea scăzută a fost legată de șanse de peste 3 ori mai mari de gânduri și tentative suicidare.
Acceptarea de către familie nu a fost legată de comportamentul sexual riscant.
Familiile latino, de imigranți, religioase și cu venituri mai mici au fost evaluate, în medie, ca fiind mai puțin acceptante.

Abstract

ISSUE: The role of family acceptance as a protective factor for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adolescents and young adults has not been established. METHODS: A quantitative measure with items derived from prior qualitative work retrospectively assessed family accepting behaviors in response to LGBT adolescents' sexual orientation and gender expression and their relationship to mental health, substance abuse, and sexual risk in young adults (N= 245). FINDINGS: Family acceptance predicts greater self-esteem, social support, and general health status; it also protects against depression, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation and behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Family acceptance of LGBT adolescents is associated with positive young adult mental and physical health. Interventions that promote parental and caregiver acceptance of LGBT adolescents are needed to reduce health disparities.

Conclusion

Family acceptance of LGBT adolescents is associated with positive young adult mental and physical health. Interventions that promote parental and caregiver acceptance of LGBT adolescents are needed to reduce health disparities. The authors describe the protective influence of specific family accepting behaviours as 'lasting' and 'dramatically protective', and recommend that nurses assess family reactions, educate parents and promote supportive behaviours such as supporting a child's gender expression.

Methodological limitations

Based on memory: Adults aged 21 to 25 described their parents' behaviour from ages 13 to 19. How they feel now may colour how accepting they remember their parents being, as the authors admit.
Measured once: Acceptance and health were measured in a single survey, so the study cannot show that acceptance came first or caused better health.
Cause may run the other way: Teens who were already more stable or less distressed may have drawn more acceptance from parents. Family factors such as warmth, conflict, parents' mental health and income could also drive both acceptance and health.
Timing of suicide attempts unknown: Lifetime suicide attempts may have happened before the young person came out, or before the accepting behaviours measured, which weakens the idea that acceptance protected them.
Not a representative group: People were found at LGBT groups, bars and clubs within 100 miles of the authors' office. No response rate is given, and results may not apply more widely.
Narrow group: Only Latino and white Californians could take part, because of funding limits.
Very few trans people: About 9% (around 22 people) were trans, so the results say little about accepting a trans identity or social transition specifically.
Authors' own scale: The 55-question acceptance scale came from the team's own interviews and had not been independently tested. It mixes general warmth with LGBT-specific actions, such as taking a child to LGBT events.
Few other factors accounted for: The study allowed for background, religion and parents' jobs, but not general parental warmth, mental health history, trauma or bullying. Acceptance explained only a modest share of differences in health.
Authors run the program they recommend: The lead author directs the Family Acceptance Project, which makes the family education materials and screening tool the paper recommends.
Claims go beyond the data: The paper says acceptance 'protects against' depression and suicide and calls its effects 'lasting' and 'dramatically protective', which a survey showing a link cannot prove.

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Summary

Key findings

Abstract

Conclusion