NPR Says Confused Kids Less Depressed If Parents Support Their Confusion

Every once in a while I go to the NPR website to see what they are thinking about and reporting.  Of course it’s filled with global warming stories and stories about racist American history. Today I ran across this story about how LGBTQ+ (The + is so you can add anything you can make up in your twisted brain) youth are less depressed if their parents support their decisions on having gay sex or dressing like a girl or deciding to remove their penis.  I’m guessing NPR future related articles might include, “Study finds men less depressed when their wife approves of their adultery.” Or maybe, “Study finds High School girls who sleep around less depressed if their parents approve of their sexual prowess”.  And “Study finds men who sexually abuse children less depressed when society doesn’t shame them”

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Young people who identify as LGBTQ+ were less likely to report symptoms of depression when they had general support from their parents, according to a study published Tuesday.

Previous research has examined parental support directly tied to a person's LGBTQ+ identity, but the study, which was published by the University of Texas at Austin researchers in the Child Development journal, asked LGBTQ+ youth to answer how often their parents did things like say how proud they were of them or assisted them with activities. 

Participants were also asked if their parents exhibited any psychologically controlling behavior, such as asserting their beliefs as the correct ones, whether their caregivers were aware of their LGBTQ+ identity and what kind of thoughts and feelings they had been having in the previous two weeks.

"Our research showed that those who felt greater social support from parents tended to have fewer depressive symptoms, whereas those who reported greater psychological control from parents had more  depressive symptoms," said Amy McCurdy, a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Texas at Austin. "For youth whose parents did not know their LGBTQ identities, having a combination of high psychological control and high social support from parents was linked with greater depressive symptoms."

 https://www.npr.org/2023/03/01/1160299443/lgbtq-youth-depression-mental-health-study