{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]],"date-time":"2026-06-09T18:02:41Z","timestamp":1781028161595,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":14,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]],"date-time":"2026-06-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780963200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100005258","name":"National Center for HIV\/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["#5U38PS004650"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["#5U38PS004650"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100005258","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Purpose<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Estimating population sizes of adolescents who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) is important for addressing health needs and disparities. Most states have Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (YRBS) among high school students, but not all include an item about sexual identity. This study\u2019s aim was to estimate the percentages of students identifying as LGB stratified by sex, age, and race and ethnicity where state data is incomplete. States where 2021 YRBS data are not available are outside the scope of this study.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>We developed two random forests trained separately for each sex and evaluated the models\u2019 performance in predicting percentages of respondents identifying as LGB by state and demographic strata. We then estimated percentages for states that did not include or have responses to the LGB identity question available in 2021.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The random forests outperformed benchmark comparison models based on a simple logistic regression approach. Estimates of students who identify as LGB across demographic strata and states ranged 5%\u201330%. The estimated percentages for states that did not ask students about sexual identity fell within the same range.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our approach to deriving state-level estimates of LGB students by sex, race and ethnicity, and age performs well and can be used to inform efforts to improve health and well-being of LGB youth.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0349759","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]],"date-time":"2026-06-09T17:23:54Z","timestamp":1781025834000},"page":"e0349759","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Indirect state-level estimation of sexual minority adolescent populations by sex, age, and race\/ethnicity using random forests"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9432-2833","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Bruno","family":"Alves-Maciel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sanjana","family":"Pampati","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ari","family":"Fodeman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michelle","family":"Van Handel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lijia","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ziping","family":"Ye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Reza","family":"Yaesoubi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joshua A.","family":"Salomon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]]},"reference":[{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0349759.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"521","DOI":"10.1177\/1745691613497965","article-title":"Minority stress and physical health among sexual minorities","volume":"8","author":"DJ Lick","year":"2013","journal-title":"Perspect Psychol Sci"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0349759.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1051","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2005.080531","article-title":"Dimensions of sexual orientation and HIV-related risk among adolescent females: Evidence from a statewide survey","volume":"98","author":"C Goodenow","year":"2008","journal-title":"Am J Public Health"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0349759.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"707","DOI":"10.1037\/a0016441","article-title":"How does sexual minority stigma \u201cget under the skin\u201d? A psychological mediation framework","volume":"135","author":"ML Hatzenbuehler","year":"2009","journal-title":"Psychol Bull"},{"key":"pone.0349759.ref004","year":"2021"},{"key":"pone.0349759.ref005","volume-title":"Understanding the well-being of LGBTQI+ populations","author":"J White","year":"2021"},{"key":"pone.0349759.ref006","year":"2023"},{"key":"pone.0349759.ref007","author":"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0349759.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0304175","article-title":"State-level population estimates of sexual minority adolescents in the United States: A predictive modeling study","volume":"19","author":"JO Ferstad","year":"2024","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"issue":"36","key":"pone.0349759.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1007","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm6736a3","article-title":"Sexual risk behavior differences among sexual minority high school students - United States, 2015 and 2017","volume":"67","author":"CN Rasberry","year":"2018","journal-title":"MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep"},{"issue":"43","key":"pone.0349759.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1211","DOI":"10.15585\/mmwr.mm6743a4","article-title":"Violence victimization, substance use, and suicide risk among sexual minority high school students - United States, 2015-2017","volume":"67","author":"MM Johns","year":"2018","journal-title":"MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0349759.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"420","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-2909.86.2.420","article-title":"Intraclass correlations: Uses in assessing rater reliability","volume":"86","author":"PE Shrout","year":"1979","journal-title":"Psychol Bull"},{"key":"pone.0349759.ref012","year":"2023","journal-title":"R Core Team. R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing"},{"key":"pone.0349759.ref013","article-title":"Various coefficients of interrater reliability and agreement","author":"M Gamer","year":"2019","journal-title":"Journal of Machine Learning Research"},{"key":"pone.0349759.ref014","first-page":"2825","article-title":"Scikit-learn: Machine learning in python","volume":"12","author":"F Pedregosa","year":"2011","journal-title":"Journal of Machine Learning Research"}],"container-title":["PLOS One"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0349759","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]],"date-time":"2026-06-09T17:24:02Z","timestamp":1781025842000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0349759"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"katsuya","family":"oi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"editor"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]]},"references-count":14,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0349759","relation":{},"ISSN":["1932-6203"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1932-6203","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,9]]}}}