Young people who identify as LGBTQ are less likely to suffer symptoms of depression when they have general support from their parents, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found. But in cases where young LGBTQ people had not told their parents about their identity and also the parents exhibited psychologically controlling behavior, supportive parenting did not reduce symptoms linked to depression.
Attention to youth mental health has skyrocketed, since a major report from the Centers for Disease Control this spring found high levels of mental distress in young people, particularly LGBTQ youth. The Department of Health and Human Services declared earlier this month that the country is “facing an unprecedented mental health crisis.”
In the new study, published in March in the journal Child Development, researchers Amy McCurdy and Stephen Russell in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences examined data from youth aged 15-21 in three different cities in the United States.
Among study participants, those who perceived their parents as being generally supportive had fewer reported depressive symptoms than those who perceived their parents as being less supportive.
The researchers also examined the effect of parental control on depressive symptoms in LGBTQ young people. Psychological control, as defined in the paper, includes attempts to intrude into the psychological and emotional development of the child, such as thinking processes, self-expression, emotions and attachment to parents. Study participants who perceived their parents as more controlling had more reported depressive symptoms than participants who perceived their parents as less controlling.
Read more at CNS.UTexas.edu.
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