Families Matter: Social Support and Mental Health Trajectories Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth

Abstract

Purpose Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adolescents are at greater risk for mental health problems than their heterosexual peers, in part due to victimization. Social support, particularly from families, has been identified as an important promotive factor. However, little is known about how LGBT youth experience multiple forms of support or how early support predicts mental health across adolescence and into young adulthood. Methods In an analytic sample of 232 LGBT youth aged 16–20 years at baseline across 5.5 years, we compared developmental trajectories of psychological distress between three empirically derived social support cluster types at baseline: those who reported uniformly low support, those who reported uniformly high support, and those who reported nonfamily support (i.e., high peer and significant other but low family support). Results Longitudinal multilevel modeling, controlling for age, victimization, and social support at each wave, indicated key differences between cluster types. Youth in the low and nonfamily support clusters reported greater distress across all time points relative to youth in the high support cluster; however, they also showed a sharper decline in distress. Youth in the nonfamily cluster gained family support across adolescence, such that they resembled youth in the high support cluster by early adulthood. Conclusions Findings underscore the importance of family support for LGBT youth. Youth who lack family support, but who have other forms of support, report a decrease in psychological distress and an increase in family support across adolescence. Youth who are low in all forms of support continue to exhibit high distress.

Identity, victimization, and support: Facebook experiences and mental health among LGBTQ youth

“…However, it showed a trend towards a negative association with distress ( p = .10) and was significant in correlational analyses. Given that social support has been found to be especially important early in adolescence (McConnell et al, 2016) and victimization is a stronger predictor of distress over time (Birkett, Newcomb, & Mustanski, 2015), the older age of our sample may account for this nonsignificant fining.…”

“…Data collection was conducted in 2013 and 2014. Further description is reported elsewhere (Birkett, Newcomb, & Mustanski, 2015; McConnell, Birkett, & Mustanski, 2016; McConnell, Birkett, & Shattell, 2015). …”

Transactional pathways of transgender identity development in transgender and gender-nonconforming youth and caregiver perspectives from the Trans Youth Family Study

“…Recently, research on transgender youth has expanded to the family, particularly focusing on parents and caregivers (Dierckx, Motmans, Mortelmans, & T’sjoen, 2016; Rahilly, 2015; Sansfacon, Robichaud, & Dumais-Michaud, 2015). As for all youth, caregivers are understood to significantly impact the well-being of transgender youth (McConnell, Birkett, & Mustanski, 2016; Ryan, Russell, Hhuebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, 2010). A qualitative study of resiliency among transgender youth found that participants described their families as a primary source of resilience (Singh, Meng, & Hansen, 2014).…”

Deciding to Come Out to Parents: Toward a Model of Sexual Orientation Disclosure Decisions

“…Research has suggested that family factors play a significant role in health disparities among sexual minority youth and young adults (Bouris et al., ; McConnell, Birkett, & Mustanski, ; Needham & Austin, ; Padilla, Crisp, & Rew, ; Rosario, Schrimshaw, & Hunter, ; Ryan, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, ; Ryan, Russell, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez, ; Willoughby, Doty, & Malik, ). Rosario, Hunter, Maguen, Gwadz, and Smith () suggests that the sexual identity development and integration, or coming out , process influences many adaptation and health related behaviors of youth, such as self‐esteem, psychological functioning, and sexual health and is, in turn, affected by the stressors and strengths of the youth, their family, and their community (Rosario et al., ).…”

“…McConnell et al. () found that youth from families who experience low levels of social support reported more psychological distress over time, even when controlling for experiences of victimization.…”