Mental health service utilization in a sexually diverse, representative sample of high school students

Abstract

This article describes patterns of mental health service (MHS) utilization in the past 12 months (counselor or community worker, group meeting attendance, and prescribed medication) across gender, sexual orientation, and perceived discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender expression. We conducted a self-administered survey in a sample of 8,194 students in grades 10, 11, and 12 (mean age = 15.4; 58% girls; 18% sexual minority youths [SMY]) from 34 randomly selected high schools from an eligible pool from the Quebec Ministry of Education. The most common MHS used was consulting a counselor or a community worker (15%), followed by group meeting attendance (5%), and having medication prescribed (3%). After controlling for mental health status and sociodemographic variables, and despite variations among sexual orientation subgroups, SMYs were consistently equally or more likely than different-gender-attracted youths to report using the MHSs investigated. Perceived discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender expression was associated with higher rates of MHS utilization. This study contributes to a better understanding of youths’ MHS utilization and highlights the role of perceived discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender expression in triggering MHS needs.

Keywords:

• Sexual minority youth
• mental health
• health service utilization
• perceived discrimination

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the participants, the school personnel, and the community organizations that participated in the Youths’ Romantic Relationships Survey. Our thanks are also extended to Catherine Moreau for project coordination.

Conflicts of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (http://www.irsc-cihr.gc.ca, FRN: 103944) awarded to Martine Hébert and colleagues.