LGB high schoolers are more likely than their straight peers to feel sad or hopeless, or attempt suicide

In 2017, high school students who identified as lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) were twice as likely as their straight peers to report feeling sad or hopeless—and four times as likely to have attempted suicide. The 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey data show that 63 percent of LGB high schoolers reported feeling sad or hopeless in 2017, compared with 28 percent of those who identified as straight. Meanwhile, 23 percent of LGB high schoolers attempted suicide, compared with 5 percent of their straight peers. The survey asked students whether “heterosexual (straight),” “bisexual,” “gay or lesbian,” or “not sure” best described them; it did not ask whether youth identified as transgender.

Overall, in 2017, 32 percent of youth in grades 9 through 12 reported feeling sad or hopeless, and 7 percent attempted suicide. Similar data on attempted suicide and sad and hopeless feelings among LGB high school students were also reported in 2015; however, it is not possible to identify trends because only two years of data have been reported.