Back in 2010, Dan Savage, a popular and highly read sex-advice columnist based in Seattle, launched the ‘It Gets Better’ Project, a series of self-submitted videos by people offering words of encouragement to members of the LGBTQ youth community. The range of submissions, and by extension their messages, were as diverse as those who contributed. Everyone from the employees of Google and Pixar to Lady Gaga and President Obama all lent their time in an ongoing effort to help ease the pain and isolation many young people feel growing up gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning.
Not everyone was smitten, however. Critics argue that, while well-intentioned, mere words offer cold comfort and gloss over the actual realities of young people who, after the videos have stopped, must return to a still-hostile environment. Action is needed, too, they contend.
But a new study by the Journal of Adolescent Health entitled, “Does It Get Better? A Longitudinal Analysis of Psychological Distress and Victimization in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth” shows that it may just very well get better.
The study sampled 231 LGBTQ people initially aged 16 to 20 and followed them over the course of 3.5 years. It found that psychological distress and victimization decreased from adolescence to early adulthood; participants rated the amount of victimization, or bullying, they faced because of their sexual identity over the previous six months on a scale of zero to three. At age 16, the average measure of victimization was 0.38. At age 24, it was cut by more than half, to 0.14. The findings varied among different participants. Male, transgender, black, and multiracial, Asian, and Native American youth in particular were at greater risk from victimization overall.
The study, while encouraging, is limited to one area of the country, Chicago, and fails to take into account younger people and adults. Also, the abstract does not reveal how stress and other factors vary among its participants. But as a contribution to the growing body of literature that correlates a reduction in bullying to the mental health of LGBTQ youth, the study couldn’t be timelier.
