Suicide is the third leading cause of adolescent mortality in the United States, accounting for 13 percent of deaths between ages 15 and 24. In 1996, more teenagers and young adults died of suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia and influenza, and chronic lung disease combined.

According to Fleischer and Fillman (1995), a 1989 Department of Health Report on youth suicide found that gay and lesbian youth are up to five times more likely to attempt suicide. The increased risk among these youth is due to isolation, rejection, confusion, and shame due to the stigmatization of homosexuality, which results in depression, suicide, and low self-esteem.

According to an article in the Journal of Adolescent Research, lesbian, and gay adolescents who attempt suicide share the following characteristics and experiences:

~ Disclosed their identity to a greater extent, and by doing so, lost more friends and experienced more victimization ~ Lower self-esteem ~ Acknowledged more mental health problems ~ Early awareness ~ Peer rejection ~ Victimization.

Other major risk factors for LGBT youth:

~ Rejection (or fear of rejection) from family and peers ~ Violence from family and peers ~ Alcohol or Drug Use ~ Limited coping skills.

Did You Know?

Over 90% of LGBT youth report that they sometimes or frequently hear homophobic remarks in their school (words such as "faggot", "dyke", or "queer").

36% of lesbian gay and bisexual youth report hearing homophobic remarks from faculty or school staff.

20% of secondary school counselors report that counseling a homosexual student concerning gay issues would not be personally gratifying, and do not consider themselves competent in counseling gay adolescents.

LGBT youth are almost twice as likely as their non-gay peers to be threatened with or injured by a weapon at school.

LGBT youth are more than four times as likely to skip whole days of school out of fear.

Harassed youth are more than four times as likely to report having made a serious enough suicide attempt to have been treated by a doctor or nurse.

The "Did You Know" section was contributed by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization striving to assure that each member of every school community is valued and respected, regardless of sexual orientation. http://www.glsen.org/pages/sections/about

The National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information Prevention Online http://www.health.org:80/Index.htm

The materials reprinted on this web page are for educational (non-commercial) use only, and there is no intent to violate copyright regulations.

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