Insights
White Paper

Building Resilience: Mental Health and LGBTQIA+ Youth

Mental health crises are on the rise throughout the country, but especially within the LGBTQ+ community, and within this population, youth. LGBTQ+ youth face feelings of sadness and hopelessness at twice the rate of their heterosexual peers. 39% of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered suicide in 2024, which increased to half among trans youth. 12% of all queer youth and 46% of nonbinary and trans youth attempted suicide in the last year. In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we compiled this research to help behavior change firms to create effective campaigns to guide LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies to mental health resources and organizations, as well as how to build resilience and community to prevent these outcomes.

Virginia Gallner
Director of Research & Insights
Read The Full White Paper
InsightsWhite Papers
Building Resilience: Mental Health and LGBTQIA+ Youth
White Paper

Building Resilience: Mental Health and LGBTQIA+ Youth

Author’s Note: This work was produced without the use of any AI products throughout the writing and revision processes. AI was used to generate and format citations.

LGBTQ+ youth face many unique challenges as interpersonal prejudice and stigma can cause significant distress and anxiety—and be a barrier to finding mental healthcare.

In this white paper, we explore how overlapping marginalized identities can create compounding stress. We dissect how the structural erasure and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people contributes to mental health challenges.

We also look at a few of the evidence-backed solutions and resources that are available to youth, including nonprofit organizations, digital spaces, and healthcare options. We also describe ways that schools and workplaces can be more inclusive and welcoming toward LGBTQ+ youth.

Finally, we provide recommendations for behavior change firms that build campaigns guiding individuals towards these resources, including language usage, tactics, and audience targeting. We provide our experience in suicide prevention and crisis campaigns to demonstrate our expertise in the area. 

Are you a public agency, non-profit, or purpose-driven brand who is looking to create effective campaigns that truly shift behavior in your target audience or community? Reach out to us at connect@magnitudeofchange.com. We’d love to partner with you to create meaningful change.

Read The Full White Paper
Share this post

Key Takeaways

1

The Minority Stress Model and Intersectionality.

Simply being in a minority group creates stress in a person’s life in the form of stigma and prejudice. Internal and external stressors can account for 33% of the shifts in a person’s mental health outcomes.

2

Contributing Factors to Mental Health Issues.

School environment, bullying, and an unstable home life are some of the factors that can contribute to suicidal ideation and suicide. Conversely, a strong community can be a protective factor against forming negative self-beliefs.

3

Structural and Policy Impacts.

There are many policies that explicitly seek to remove LGBTQ+ lives and experiences from public view. These policies materially affect the community through attacks on civil rights, removal of public health information, and censorship. In states where these policies are introduced or have taken effect, there has been an increase in texts to crisis hotlines.

4

How to Reach People Who Are Struggling.

There are resources available to individuals, including professional healthcare workers, schools, organizations, and digital spaces. It’s important to create multiple layers of support; this creates the most effective protection against mental health challenges.

5

How to Use Digital Advertising to Support LGBTQ+ Youth.

Digital advertising and behavior change campaigns can target at-risk youth and help them find the support they need. This includes effective tactics, language use, and behavior change theory.

Contact Us

Let’s discuss how we can build a better world, together.

Have questions? We can help. Know where you want to go? Let’s start. We can’t wait to discover how we can work together.
Contact Us