Understanding protective and risk factors in preventing suicide among LGBTQ+ youth in the UK

McDermott, E, Cahill, L ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7897-0862, Nath, R, Reid, B, Schaub, J, Stander, WJ and Taylor, A, 2025. Understanding protective and risk factors in preventing suicide among LGBTQ+ youth in the UK. International Journal of Mental Health. ISSN 0020-7411

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Abstract

LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to attempt suicide in comparison to their cisgender, heterosexual peers. Despite a UK national suicide prevention strategy, there have been minimal efforts to address this mental health inequality. Our aim was to provide evidence to guide suicide prevention strategies by examining risk and protective factors. Our LGBTQ+ youth advisory group were involved in all aspects of the study. We conducted an online self-complete, cross-sectional questionnaire. Participants were recruited via social media. The resulting sample (N = 9,666) comprised UK LGBTQ+ youth aged 13–24 years old. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess associations between our predictor variables and our mental health outcomes. Random forest classification modeling was used to rank predictors. We found a positive LGBTQ+ school environment and social support and acceptance were significant protective factors; victimization and discrimination and food insecurity were significant risk factors. The most important ranked predictor variables of suicidality were having a trusted adult, experience of LGBTQ+ victimization, food insecurity, conversion therapy, and all school variables. This is the first large-scale UK study to examine protective and risk factors for LGBTQ+ youth suicide. Results suggest key to prevention is providing LGBTQ+ affirming and safe environments and relationships in school, at home, and in communities, alongside measures to address food insecurity.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	International Journal of Mental Health
Creators:	McDermott, E., Cahill, L., Nath, R., Reid, B., Schaub, J., Stander, W.J. and Taylor, A.
Publisher:	Informa UK Limited
Date:	2 November 2025
ISSN:	0020-7411
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/00207411.2025.2575422 DOI 2525357 Other
Rights:	© 2025 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	14 Nov 2025 17:00
Last Modified:	14 Nov 2025 17:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54745

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