The growing acceptence and legalization of same-sex marriage has caused a lower suicide rate among teens and young adults in the US.

Suicide is the second-leading cause of death of young people aged 15 to 24 years old; sexual minorities experience an even larger risk which is possibly due to moldy, old, outdated societal taboos.

Now, research published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics says researchers analyzed the answers given by 763,000 teens from 1999 through January 2015, to a study that asked them if they had ever attempted suicide.  Prior to legalization of same-sex marriage in each state where the teens reside, 8.6 percent of all high school students and 28.5 percent of sexual minority-identifying students said they attempted suicide. 

But after individual US states allowed gay marriage, the survey indicated that there were more than 134,000 fewer adolescent suicide attempts.  This indicates a seven percent decrease among high school students claiming to have attempted suicide in the past year.

The study does have its limitations:  Socio-economic status of the teens was not part of the data, nor were local characteristics such as religious affiliation or sexual minority acceptance.  And even after the US Supreme Court legalized marriage equality in 2015, the rate of suicide attempts by LGBTQ youth is still four times higher than the general population of teens.  Another study shows 30 percent of trans youth attempt suicide at least once.  But overall, it's good initial evidence as the push for decency goes around the globe.

"As countries around the world consider enabling or restricting same-sex marriage, we provide evidence that implementing same-sex marriage policies was associated with improved population health," according to the study. "Policymakers should consider the mental health consequences of same-sex marriage policies."