Mental Health of LGBT+ Young People and Their Parents: A Dyadic Approach.

Abstract

LGBT+ young people often have poor mental health, and the parent-child relationship seems to play a crucial role in this. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychological factors that may be involved in the mental health of LGBT+ youth and their parents, taking a dyadic approach (i.e. taking into account the interdependence between the young people's characteristics and those of their parents). To di this, 154 dyads including a parent and their LGBT youth aged between 16 and 25, were recruited. They completed an online questionnaire measuring the following variables: two personality traits (extraversion and neuroticism), resilience, social support, and mental health. Our results showed that higher levels of negative mental health outcome among LGBT+ youth and their parents were associated with lower levels of social support, resilience and extraversion, and higher level of neuroticism. However, contrary to our expectations, parental characteristics were not associated with the mental health of the LGBT+ youth. These data highlight the important role of extraversion, neuroticism, resilience and social support in the mental health of LGBT+ youth and their parents. To further explore potential dyadic effects, the study will be replicated with adolescents.