The Trevor Project, West Hollywood, CA.
J Sch Health. 2024 Jul;94(7):601-609. doi: 10.1111/josh.13460. Epub 2024 May 2.
Affirming spaces have been associated with improved mental health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) adolescents.
With data from adolescents currently enrolled in middle or high school across the United States, this study used topic modeling methods to examine students' reports of what they were looking for in LGBTQ-affirming schools and, separately, the association of LGBTQ-affirming schools with suicide risk reduction.
Topic models demonstrated consistent themes in how students determined that their school was affirming, such as LGBTQ clubs, teachers requesting pronouns, pride flags, and accepting peers. Students of color uniquely looked for actionable responses in addressing LGBTQ issues. Transgender and nonbinary students required explicit mention of support for transgender issues. Quantitatively, LGBTQ students who reported that their school was LGBTQ-affirming had 20% lower odds of attempting suicide in the past year (adjusted odds ratio = 0.80).
These findings suggest that schools must be safe for all youth and implementing policies that make LGBTQ students feel seen and supported in their identities is a protective factor for mental health.
School policies must ensure that youth have access to supportive people, symbols of support, and LGBTQ clubs and that they are also salient to LGBTQ students of color and transgender and nonbinary students.
肯定空间与女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋、跨性别、酷儿和疑问（LGBTQ）青少年的心理健康改善结果相关。
本研究使用主题建模方法，利用来自美国目前就读于中学或高中的青少年的数据，调查了学生对 LGBTQ 认同学校的期望，以及 LGBTQ 认同学校与自杀风险降低的关联。
主题模型展示了学生如何确定他们的学校是认同 LGBTQ 的一致主题，例如 LGBTQ 俱乐部、要求使用代词的老师、骄傲旗帜和接受同龄人。有色人种的学生特别寻求解决 LGBTQ 问题的可操作的回应。跨性别和非二元性别学生需要明确提到对跨性别问题的支持。从数量上看，报告其学校是 LGBTQ 认同的 LGBTQ 学生自杀未遂的可能性降低了 20%（调整后的优势比=0.80）。
这些发现表明，学校必须对所有青少年安全，实施使 LGBTQ 学生在身份认同方面感到被看到和支持的政策是保护心理健康的一个因素。
学校政策必须确保青少年能够接触到支持他们的人、支持的象征以及 LGBTQ 俱乐部，并且这些对有色人种的 LGBTQ 学生和跨性别和非二元性别学生也是重要的。
