title: The health and health care of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents.
abstract: Adolescents face a variety of challenges in their transition to adulthood; lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents face these typical challenges as well as additional challenges that are related to the social stigma of their sexual orientation. For some lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents, this stigma may induce psychosocial stress, leading to increased health risk behaviors and poorer health outcomes. In this article, we review data on the health and health care of LGB adolescents. We examine health indicators and health risks for LGB youth, including substance use, eating disorders, suicidality, risky sexual behaviors, violence exposure and victimization, and homelessness. We also examine health care provision and utilization for LGB youth. Lastly, we discuss ways in which researchers and clinicians can improve LGB adolescent health and health care.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, Mattel Children's Hospital, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90024, USA. tcoker@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Tumaini R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Coker
authors.forename: S Bryn
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Austin
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schuster
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services; D001727:Bisexuality; D019548:Crime Victims; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D018452:Homosexuality, Female; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders; D013405:Suicide; D014754:Violence