Family Acceptance Key to LGBT Youth Well-Being

There has been a lot of media coverage lately about the problems faced by LGBT youth, including a higher risk of suicide and attempted suicide. But what helps LGBT youth reduce such risks and increase the chances of a healthy adulthood? One key factor is being accepted by their families.

That's the conclusion of Dr. Caitlin Ryan of the Marian Wright Edelman Institute at San Francisco State University, in a study appearing this month in the peer-reviewed Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing.

Ryan and her colleagues have found that parental and caregiver acceptance -- especially specific actions such as standing up for children when they are mistreated because of their LGBT identity -- can increase the youths' self-esteem and help protect them against depression, substance abuse, and suicide in early adulthood. Conversely, LGBT young adults who reported low levels of family acceptance during adolescence were over three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to report suicide attempts, compared to those with high levels of family acceptance.

These conclusions may seem obvious -- it's no stretch to assume that being accepted by one's family is an important part of growing into a happy, healthy adult. When it comes to LGBT youth, however, the work is groundbreaking.

Most previous research has focused on negative aspects of the relationships between LGBT youth and their parents. "Perceptions were widespread that disclosure [of LGBT identity] would precipitate conflict and potential homelessness," Ryan wrote in a recent article for The Prevention Researcher. "Most providers do not routinely ask LGBT youth about their families." The existing approach of health care providers, social workers, and educators who work with LGBT youth has thus been to serve them alone and through peer support, not in the context of their families. Previous approaches have also focused less on what can be done to help LGBT youth develop into happy LGBT adults.

Ryan's study is the first to examine how families express positive acceptance of LGBT children and to examine how this impacts LGBT adolescents' health and mental health as they transition to adulthood.

The research is more than just a new academic exercise, however. The work forms part of Ryan's ongoing Family Acceptance Project (FAP), a research, intervention, and education initiative she developed with colleague Rafael Dìaz in 2001. The FAP aims to serve LGBT youth in the context of their families. It strives to help families from diverse ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds support their LGBT children, increase the children's well-being, and decrease their health risks. Another goal -- with implications for public policy --  is to help LGBT youth stay in their family homes, reducing homelessness and easing the burden on the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

Ryan and her colleagues -- along with a variety of community organizations, care providers, and advocates -- have been developing educational materials based on the FAP results, including a downloadable guide for parents, caregivers, and health care providers (in English and Spanish), and a video series showing the journeys of an ethnically diverse group of families toward acceptance of their LGBT children. These resources have been designed to help families assess their interactions with their LGBT children, change their misconceptions, and see the impact of their behaviors, all in culturally appropriate ways.

The FAP is also offering free family support services -- from general information to crisis assistance -- in English, Spanish, and Cantonese throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

All told, the FAP demonstrates the power of rethinking old assumptions and applying social science research to create positive, direct, change in people's lives.

To see a real-life example, watch the FAP video below, "Always My Son."

Photo credit: Family Acceptance Project, Marian Wright Edelman Institute (MWEI), San Francisco State University