Washington, February 08: Youngsters, who self-identify as gay or lesbian or who are unsure of their sexual identity, are at higher suicide risk, a new study has claimed.
Health experts have long-known that gay, lesbian and bisexual youth face significantly elevated risks of mental problems, including suicidal thoughts, but a new study by a team from McGill University in Canada found that self-identity is the crucial risk-factor rather than actual sexual behaviours.
The team administered a detailed, anonymous questionnaire to nearly 1,900 students in 14 high schools and found that those youths who self-identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual or who were unsure of their sexual identity, were at higher risk for suicidal attempts.
However, those who had same-sex attractions or sexual experiences but thought of themselves as heterosexual Were at no greater risk than the population at large, the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported.
Perhaps surprisingly, but consistent with previous studies, the majority of youngsters with same-sex sexual attraction or experience considered themselves to be heterosexual.
“This is the first study that has separated sexual identity from sexual attractions and behaviours in looking at risk for poor mental health outcomes,” said senior researcher Dr Brett Thombs.
“It’s important to realise that a large proportion of people who have sex with or are attracted to people of the same sex do not identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual. They consider themselves heterosexual,” added co-author Dr Richard Montero.
“Those students were not at all at risk of worse mental health outcomes.”
The main message is that it’s the interface between individuals and society that causes students who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual the most distress, said first author Yue Zhao.
“Sexual orientation has three different components. The first is identity, which is dependent on the society in which one lives; the second is attraction or fantasy; and the third is behaviour,” he said.
Previous studies have not addressed which of those components may explain why GLB youth are at risk.
“What this all means is that clinicians need to look not just at individuals and their sexuality, they really need to assess the environment they are coming from and how they see themselves within it,” the team said.
—PTI