Health risk survey for LGB youth shows increased pregnancy

Boston MA -- Carol Goodenow, director of coordinated school health education for the Department of Education in MA, led a presentation at the state's Department of Public Health headquarters June 19 about health risks faced by LGBT youth. About 40 people attended the press conference, which by itself demonstrated the dramatic change in attitudes toward LGBT issues under Gov. Deval Patrick from that of his predecessor, Mitt Romney (see "Climate Change," below).

The presentation, which looked at data of LGB youth (the survey does not track transgender youth) from the state's Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), showed at least two surprising results. The first was that, according to the 2005 survey, sexually active LGB youth are three times as likely to face an unwanted pregnancy as their straight peers. The second is that risks of suicide, violence, drug use and even cigarette smoking for LGB youth has decreased over the last 10 years.

Goodenow explained that since the mid 90s the YRBS, which has been administered to nearly 24,000 public school students throughout the state since its inception, has included two questions that allow DOE to identify LGB youth and compare their risk for violence, harassment and health issues with those of their straight peers.

Over a 10-year period, from 1995 to 2005, Goodenow examined health risk trends for "sexual minority youth," a category that includes any youth who identifies on the YRBS as GLB or who reports having sex partners of the same sex. Sexual minority youth make up about five percent of the total student population across most years of the survey, and in almost every case, Goodenow said, they are at greater risk for health problems, violence and suicide. Data about the greater risk of suicide among LGBT youth in particular helped spur the creation of the state's Safe Schools programs, and Goodenow said over the past 10 years the YRBS has consistently shown that sexual minority youth have greater incidence of suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts. The 2005 YRBS found that sexual minority youth were four times as likely as their straight peers to have made a suicide attempt in the past year.

"These are the best indications we have about what's going on in kids' lives," said Goodenow.
The YRBS also found that sexual minority youth were at greater risk for contracting HIV and other STDs than their peers. In 2005, sexual minority youth were twice as likely to report having been diagnosed with HIV or another STD as their straight peers.

Oddly enough, over the years, sexual minority youth have also been more likely than straight youth to be faced with an unwanted pregnancy. The 2005 survey found that sexual minority youth were three times as likely to have become pregnant or gotten their partner pregnant. Goodenow said one year her supervisor read that data and assumed it was a misprint.

"My supervisor came back and said, 'You flipped these numbers.' And no, no we didn't," said Goodenow, who did not speculate why that number was consistently higher for sexual minority youth.

With 10 years' worth of data Goodenow said she had a large enough sample to show statistical differences between white sexual minority youth and LGB youth of color. White LGB youth are less likely than youth of color to be threatened with a weapon at school, and they were also less likely to have attempted suicide over the past year; Asian LGB youth reported the highest rates of suicide attempts.

Despite the increased risk factors facing sexual minority youth, Goodenow said that over a 10-year period nearly every risk factor for those youth has decreased, including the risks for suicide attempts, physical violence, drug use and even cigarette smoking. No risk factor worsened over the survey period.

The survey data do not show what factors led to those decreases over time, but Goodenow said the survey shows that many of those risks decrease for sexual minority youth who report that they feel comfortable talking to their family members or teachers about their problems, who report getting HIV/AIDS education in school or who report getting decent grades (As, Bs and Cs). Goodenow also referenced an earlier study she worked on using YRBS and other data showing that in schools with gay/straight alliances (GSAs), all LGB students feel safer, not just those who attend the GSA.
"Social integration matters. Having people around you, having adults around you who care about you and are going to talk you through what the issues are, whatever those issues are, really has a strong protective effect, and I think the world at large is beginning to tune in in terms of school connectedness. It's a variable that used to be invisible and now is being looked at a good deal more," said Goodenow.

Climate change

John Auerbach, commissioner of the Department of Public Health (DPH), told the crowd of about 40 people gathered at DPH headquarters June 19 that the forum they were attending, a presentation on data about health risks facing LGBT youth, demonstrated the dramatic shift in DPH policy since the start of Gov. Deval Patrick's administration. While the climate under Patrick's predecessor, Mitt Romney, was often hostile to LGBT-related programming, Auerbach said Patrick and his administration are committed to making LGBT health a priority for DPH.

"Today I'm particularly happy to be at this presentation in part because it represents a new day at the department and a new day in terms of state government," said Auerbach.

Kevin Cranston, head of DPH's HIV/AIDS Bureau, explained what that change meant in concrete terms. He said last year DPH tried to hold a similar forum, but the Romney administration worked to scuttle those efforts.

"Last year this event was initially canceled, and it was canceled because of concerns from a previous administration that any endorsement of the staff who are GLBT or allies of GLBT individuals and members of the community who would like to see the department make a public commitment to fighting on behalf of the health of GLBT individuals was entirely too controversial to invest in," said Cranston. He added that DPH ultimately succeeded in holding the event that year, but "not without a whole bunch of sturm und drang and a lot of hand wringing and a lot of personal pain." Until Cranston's remarks June 19, however, Bay Windows had not known of last year's forum.

Cranston credited the leadership of Auerbach, Patrick, and Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby for changing the climate at DPH.

"We're doing out gay things again," said Cranston.