Sexual minority children: Mood disorders and suicidality disparities

JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS

卷:246

Article

Blashill, Aaron J.^1,2  Calzo, Jerel P.³ 

[1] San Diego State Univ, Dept Psychol, 6363 Alvarado Court,Suite 101, San Diego, CA 92120 USA

[2] Univ Calif San Diego, San Diego State Univ, Joint Doctoral Program Clin Psychol, San Diego, CA 92103 USA

[3] San Diego State Univ, Sch Publ Hlth, San Diego, CA 92182 USA

关键词: Sexual orientation;    Children;    Mood disorders;    Suicide;    Sexual minority;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jad.2018.12.040

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Background: Sexual minority (gay, lesbian, and bisexual) individuals experience elevated mood disorders and suicidality compared to their heterosexual counterparts. However, to date, these sexual orientation disparities have yet to be examined among middle childhood-aged participants. Methods: Data were employed from the baseline wave of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, a U.S. representative sample. Population-level weighting was utilized, resulting in an analytic sample of N=8,204,013 (nunweighted=4519) children between the ages of 9 and 10 years: with 70,952 (nunweighted=43) identifying as sexual minories (0.9% of the population). Structured clinical interviews were used to assess mood disorders (i.e., depressive and bipolar disorders) and suicidality. Sexual orientation (sexual minority vs. heterosexual) was examined as the focal independent variable. Results: The overall prevalence of mood disorders was 7.1%. Sexual minority children (22.5%) possessed a higher rate than heterosexual children (6.9%). The overall prevalence of suicidality was 4.8%; sexual minority children (19.1%) possessed a higher rate than heterosexual children (4.6%). Limitations: Sexual orientation assessment did not include attraction, and thus, results may represent a lower bound estimate of sexual minorities. Conclusions: Sexual orientation disparities in mood disorders and suicidality appear to develop as early as middle childhood. Clinicians are encouraged to assess sexual orientation among children as young as 9-10 years old, and provide appropriate normalization of sexual orientation, and referrals for mental health treatment, as indicated.

【 授权许可】

Free