2022 national survey on LGBTQ youth mental health

The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health demonstrates that rates of suicidal thoughts have trended upward among LGBTQ young people over the last three years, making our life-saving work all the more important. Capturing the experiences of nearly 34,000 LGBTQ youth ages 13-24 across the United States, with 45% of respondents being LGBTQ youth of color and 48% being transgender or nonbinary, our fourth annual national survey is one of the most diverse surveys of LGBTQ youth ever conducted.
These data provide critical insights into some of the unique suicide risk factors faced by LGBTQ youth, top barriers to mental health care, and the negative impacts of COVID-19 and relentless anti-transgender legislation. This research also highlights several ways in which we can all support the LGBTQ young people in our lives — and help prevent suicide. It’s essential to emphasize that we still do not have known counts or registries of the LGBTQ youth population — and comprehensive, intersectional data on LGBTQ youth mental health outcomes remain limited. So our annual national survey strives to fill in these gaps and amplify the experiences of young LGBTQ people, a marginalized group consistently found to be at significantly increased risk for suicide because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society.
We hope these data and trends will be used by fellow researchers, policymakers, and youth-serving organizations to advance policies and practices that better support LGBTQ youth around the globe and work to end the public health crisis of suicide. Over the next year, The Trevor Project will release new data from this diverse, national sample in the form of research briefs and research reports on a wide variety of topics related to LGBTQ youth mental health and suicide prevention. And as always, we will continue to do all we can to advocate for LGBTQ-inclusive policies, raise public awareness and acceptance, and be there for every single LGBTQ young person who needs help or support, 24/7. (author introduction) #P4HEwebinarJune2022