Parental support and risk of suicide in the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community.

This study hypothesized that risk of suicide among the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) population would decrease significantly whenever there was positive parental support. Parents' knowledge of respondents' sexuality was also examined to explore any effects on parental support. The public use secondary data set from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), Wave III, was used for this study. Sample size consisted of 137 young adults who identified as LGB. Findings indicated that parental support had no significant influence over respondents' suicidality. Implications suggest peer support and romantic partners should also be considered when measuring suicide among the LGB population. Looking at whether adolescents disclose their sexuality to their parents should also be considered. The LGB population remains disproportionately vulnerable to suicide; hence social workers must advocate for the LGB community and develop methods of practice that will promote emotional and physical wellbeing of the LGB population