Sexual minority youth, social change, and health: A developmental collision

Few societal attitudes and opinions have changed as quickly as those regarding sexual minority people and rights. In the context of dramatic social change in the space of a single generation, there have been multiple policy changes toward social inclusion and rights for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people, and perceptions that the sociocultural context for LGB people - perhaps particularly for youth - has improved. Yet recent evidence from the developmental sciences points to paradoxical findings: in many cases there have been growing rather than shrinking health disparities. In light of swift sociocultural changes, combined with emergent findings regarding the health and wellbeing of sexual minority youth, we suggest that there is a developmental collision between normative adolescent developmental processes and sexual minority youth identities and visibility. The result is a new reality for sexual minority youth health and disparities.