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Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among adolescents and nonsuicidal self-harm occurs in 13%–45% of individuals within this age group, making these phenomena major public health concerns. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth particularly are at risk for engaging in these behaviors. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the specific risk factors associated with suicidal ideation and self-harm behaviors in the population.

This study provides a longitudinal evaluation of the relative contributions of general and LGBT-specific risk factors as well as protective factors to the occurrence of suicidal ideation and self-harm in an ethnically diverse sample of LGBT youth.

A community sample of 246 LGBT youth (aged 16–20 years) was followed prospectively over five time points at regular 6-month intervals. Participants completed a baseline structured …