Rainbow young people – We need to think about their physical health & wellbeing too

A new study led by Dr Mathijs Lucassen (The Open University & Auckland University) and Dr Aravinda Guntupalli (The Open University) used Youth2000 data to investigate aspects of the physical health of sexual and gender minority youth – a greatly under-explored area.

They found that the physical health of many sexual and gender minority youth in New Zealand is compromised. In particular, these young people report increased rates of engaging in unhealthy weight control behaviours (e.g. purging and using diet pills), compromised nutrition (e.g. consuming fast food more than four times per week) and that they were less likely to participate in a school sports team. This is important for professionals, including public health nutritionists, who must recognize and help to address the challenges facing sexual and gender minorities.

Read the full paper here.