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New study found lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth trying to change their sexual orientation from parents or others – often referred to as conversion treatments – report levels of depression and higher suicidal behavior, esteem, social support and life satisfaction, as well as lower levels of education and income among young adults.
According to researchers at the Family Acceptance Project (FAP) at San Francisco State University, parents' efforts, as well as external sexual orientation-conversion interventions by therapists and religious leaders, contribute to multiple problems of sexual orientation. health and adaptation in young adults.
In the study, over half (53%) of non-Latino LGBT Latino and Latino adults aged 21 to 25 reported having already made the effort to change their sexual orientation during their teenage years.
Of these, 21% reported specific experiences of parents and caregivers who changed their sexual orientation at home, while 32% reported parents' efforts to change their sexual orientation. therapists and religious leaders.
Notably, any attempt to change sexual orientation – by single parents or by parents, therapists and religious leaders – has contributed to increased risks for LGBT youth, the researchers said.
However, those who undergo both parental and external conversion efforts of therapists or religious leaders have the highest levels of risk, they add.
The rates of suicide attempts among LGBT youth whose parents tried to change their sexual orientation were more than double (48%) of the rates of LGBT young adults who reported no conversion experience (22%). %).
Attempted suicide almost tripled among LGBT youth who reported both home-based efforts to change parents' sexual orientation and intervention efforts by therapists and religious leaders (63%), according to the study.
High levels of depression more than doubled (33%) among LGBT youth whose parents tried to change sexual orientation compared to those who reported no conversion experience (16%). This more than tripled (52%) for LGBT youth who reported both home-based efforts to change the sexual orientation of parents and external referral efforts of therapists and religious leaders , the researchers said.
According to the findings of the study, experiences of change of sexual orientation of parents and of outside therapists and religious leaders were associated with lower socio-economic status among young adults, including lower educational attainment and a lower weekly income.
LGBT adolescents from very religious families and those from lower socio-economic status families were the most likely to be involved in home and outdoor conversion efforts. Those who were gender non-compliant and who came from immigrant families were more likely to experience the external conversion efforts initiated by their parents and guardians, the researchers said.
"Although parents and religious leaders trying to change a child's LGBT identity may be motivated by attempts to" protect "their children, these rejection behaviors undermine the sense of self-confidence LGBT child, but also contribute to self-destructive behaviors that greatly increase the risk. and inhibit personal care, compromising their ability to make a living, "said Dr. Caitlin Ryan, director of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University and lead author of the study.
That's why we've developed a family support model to help diverse families learn to support their LGBT children as we integrate into behavioral health, out-of-home care, primary care and pastoral care. communities across the country. "
"We now have even more dramatic evidence of the sustainable personal and social cost of subjecting young people to so-called" change "or" conversion "therapies, said co-author Stephen T. Russell. , Ph.D., Professor Regents. at the University of Texas at Austin.
"Previous studies with adults have shown how harmful these practices are. Our study shows the central role that parents play. It is clear that "change" efforts for long-term LGBT adolescents have a cost to public health. The type of change we really need is education and family intervention. "
The study was published in Journal of homosexuality.
Source: San Francisco State University
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