In Simple Terms
A two-year survey of about 1,700 LGBTQ+ young people found that anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide remained common, even as reports of self-harm and suicide attempts went down. Young people who felt supported by their families were less likely to report suicidal thoughts, while housing instability and attempts to change someone’s identity were linked to greater risks. The findings show that a young person’s surroundings can make a real difference.
Mental health cannot be summed up in a single number, and a one-time snapshot may not show how it changes. Following the same people over time can reveal shifts in their lives and help researchers understand what may go along with better circumstances or rising pressures. A recent report from The Trevor Project offers a two-year view of LGBTQ+ young people’s experiences, drawing on repeated surveys completed by about 1,700 participants.
The findings paint a mixed picture. Anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide remained widespread, and the report described their overall trend as rising. At the same time, the share of participants reporting self-harm or suicide attempts fell over the same period. The report also identified clear links between social conditions and mental health: family support was associated with fewer reports of suicidal thoughts, while exposure to attempts to change someone’s identity—or threats of such attempts—and unstable housing were linked to more concerning outcomes.
Two Years of Follow-Up, Not a Single Snapshot
The report drew on a longitudinal study by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization focused on LGBTQ+ youth. Nearly 1,700 young people took part, answering surveys every six months beginning in September 2023. This approach makes it possible to look at how responses change over time instead of asking participants just once. Still, the figures describe the responses of people in this particular study; they should not automatically be treated as a comprehensive measure of all LGBTQ+ young people.
That distinction matters when interpreting the findings. The survey can identify patterns and experiences that deserve attention, but on its own it cannot prove that a particular factor directly caused a specific mental health outcome. Nor does a change in survey responses explain everything that happened in participants’ lives during the study. The figures are best understood as signals of associations and trends, not as definitive judgments about individuals or entire groups.
One of the report’s main findings was that anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide remained at high levels and showed an overall upward trend. The information available here does not give specific figures for those three measures, so it is not possible to estimate how much they increased or compare them quantitatively with earlier levels. By contrast, comparable figures for self-harm and suicide attempts were reported at two points in time, and both declined among survey respondents.
Two Measures Improved, but the Pressures Remain
The share of participants who reported self-harm fell from 38% to 34%. The share who said they had attempted suicide declined from 9% to 7%. These changes matter because they point to improvement in both measures among survey respondents over the period covered by the report. But they do not mean that risk disappeared, or that other pressures eased by the same amount.
These figures describe percentages within the study group, not absolute counts for all young people, and they cannot by themselves explain why the numbers changed. A lower percentage also does not mean that every individual’s situation improved. People’s experiences can differ, and some young people may still face severe distress even when an overall measure improves. That is why it is important not to turn encouraging results into unwarranted reassurance or overlook the report’s finding that anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide remained high.
The coexistence of improvement in some outcomes and continuing difficulties in others is a reminder that mental health does not move along a single, steady path. Different measures can shift in different directions, and one part of a person’s experience may change while another remains difficult. A careful reading of the findings holds both sides in view: self-harm and suicide attempts declined, while other mental health indicators remained high and were described as trending upward.
Family Support Can Make a Meaningful Difference
One striking finding was the association between family support and a lower likelihood of reporting suicidal thoughts. Participants who described their families as supportive were 45% less likely to report such thoughts than those who did not report that level of support. This does not mean that support guarantees these thoughts will go away for every person, or that the figure predicts what will happen to any individual. It describes a difference in likelihood between two groups in the survey data.
Even with those limits, the finding has a clear practical message: close relationships can be an important part of the environment a young person lives in, and support means more than offering general words of encouragement or expressing acceptance once. Listening without judgment, taking a young person’s concerns seriously, and making room for them to speak openly are examples of everyday actions that can show support. The report does not identify any single behavior as the direct cause of the observed difference, but it does show that reporting family support was associated with a better outcome on the measure of suicidal thoughts.
The finding also matters because it brings social relationships into discussions of mental health alongside individual factors. The conversation should not focus only on how young people manage distress on their own; the data suggest that their surroundings and close relationships deserve attention, too. Because the study observed an association rather than testing cause and effect, the most accurate conclusion is that family support went along with a lower likelihood—not that it alone explains the difference.
Harmful Practices Linked to a Higher Likelihood of Suicidal Thoughts
On the other side of the picture, the report found that young people who had been subjected to conversion therapy, or threatened with it, were nearly three times as likely to report suicidal thoughts as those who had not experienced this. The term conversion therapy refers to practices intended to change a person’s sexual orientation or identity. The report grouped actual exposure and threats of exposure together, and this group was associated with a higher likelihood of reporting suicidal thoughts.
The finding needs to be interpreted carefully. It describes a higher likelihood; it does not mean that everyone subjected to these practices will experience suicidal thoughts, nor does it mean that the number of cases rose by an absolute factor of three. Still, it is a troubling signal that threats of, or exposure to, these practices went along with greater mental health risks among survey participants. Based on the information published here, the report does not break down the result by type of practice, timing, or severity.
This association is a reason to take threats seriously, rather than waiting for a practice to occur before recognizing its potential impact. A threat can be part of a young person’s experience even if it never becomes an actual intervention, and it may add to other pressures they are facing. The same caution applies to interpreting the result: the study identifies an important association that deserves attention, but it does not by itself establish a complete chain of cause and effect or tell us what every individual experienced.
Unstable Housing Became More Common Over the Year
The report recorded an increase in the share of participants who said they had experienced homelessness during the previous year: from 7% in 2024 to 13% in 2025. This means that the reported share within the study group rose between those two years. It should not be treated as an estimate for all LGBTQ+ young people, since the information provided does not establish that the sample represents the entire population.
The study also found that participants who described their housing as unstable were twice as likely to report self-harm and suicidal thoughts as those who did not report this kind of instability. Again, this comparison concerns likelihood within the study data; it does not prove that housing disruption alone caused these outcomes. It does, however, highlight the overlap between basic material hardships and serious mental health indicators.
Housing is more than an address: it is part of everyday stability and can affect a person’s ability to feel safe and maintain a routine. The report does not provide details about why homelessness increased, or whether participants’ circumstances changed in other ways during the same period. The findings support a more limited conclusion: the reported share rose from 7% to 13% between 2024 and 2025, and housing instability was associated with a lower likelihood of positive mental health outcomes as measured by the survey. They do not show that one cause explains all of these results.
Access to Hormones Changes with Age
The report also examined whether transgender and nonbinary participants wanted access to gender-affirming hormones. During the follow-up period, reported interest in getting hormones increased, and access rose as well, in what the report described as a surprising way. But the comparison between adults and minors showed a substantial gap: 73% of participants aged 18 or older had been able to access hormones, compared with just 33% of those under 18.
The report notes that some participants turned 18 during the study. Reaching adulthood removes many of the barriers minors face, so the difference between 73% and 33% should not be interpreted as reflecting age alone or as a simple change in interest. The groups also differ in the restrictions surrounding access, and reaching adulthood can change what is available to someone.
These figures are useful because they place interest and access in the same context and highlight a clear gap between adults and minors. However, the information available here does not provide further details about the types of barriers, the routes people used to obtain hormones, or related health outcomes. A careful reading should therefore stick to what the data show: interest and access increased among transgender and nonbinary participants, and access was reported by 73% of those aged 18 or older, compared with 33% of minors. Some participants moved into the adult group during the study, a detail that should be kept in mind.
What the Findings Show—and What They Don’t
Following participants over time makes it possible to consider several signals rather than offer one overly simple verdict. Reports of self-harm fell from 38% to 34%, and reports of suicide attempts fell from 9% to 7%. At the same time, anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide remained high and, according to the report, trended upward. The findings also show differences associated with family support, exposure to attempts to change someone’s identity or threats of such attempts, housing, and access to hormones.
But the survey does not offer a definitive explanation for every change, and it cannot prove that any one factor produced a particular outcome. The size of the group, while important, does not justify applying the percentages to every LGBTQ+ young person. The information presented does not establish that the sample represents the entire population, nor does it break down the findings by every subgroup or life circumstance. The best use of these figures is to identify areas that need more attention and to guide more focused follow-up questions—not to make broad judgments about young people or their families.
The comparisons also show why it is important not to confuse association with cause and effect. A lower likelihood of suicidal thoughts among those reporting family support does not mean that family alone determines mental health. A higher likelihood among those exposed to conversion practices does not mean everyone’s experience is the same. And the link between unstable housing, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts does not, by itself, reveal how different living conditions interact in each participant’s life.
These limitations do not make the findings unimportant. Reports that follow people over time can help identify what needs attention and further understanding, especially when several measures move in different directions. The clearest message is that understanding young people’s mental health requires looking at the wider conditions around them—including family relationships, housing stability, and the threats or pressures they face—as well as mental health indicators themselves.
The Bottom Line
The Trevor Project report, based on following nearly 1,700 young people every six months since September 2023, presents a picture of both improvement and continuing concern. Reports of self-harm fell from 38% to 34%, and reports of suicide attempts fell from 9% to 7%, while anxiety, depression, and thoughts of suicide remained high and were described as trending upward. Family support was associated with a 45% lower likelihood of reporting suicidal thoughts, while the likelihood of reporting suicidal thoughts was nearly three times as high among those exposed to attempts to change their identity or threatened with such attempts.
The share reporting homelessness during the previous year also rose from 7% in 2024 to 13% in 2025, and housing instability was associated with lower odds of positive mental health outcomes. Among transgender and nonbinary participants, access to hormones reached 73% for those aged 18 or older, compared with 33% for minors; some participants turned 18 during the study. These figures cannot explain every person’s experience or prove what caused the outcomes. They do, however, underline that a young person’s surroundings, support, and stability matter when we try to understand mental health.