Study Says Perils of Adolescence Greater for Gay Teens

By William J. Cromie

Gazette Staff

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens are more likely to attempt suicide, use alcohol, cocaine, and other drugs, and have multiple sex partners than their straight peers, according to a new study by Harvard researchers.

They are also more likely to be victims of physical violence, verbal harassment, rejection, isolation, and depression.

Trying to deal with the stresses of normal adolescence, along with those imposed by a society that doesn't accept homosexuality, increases the risk behavior of these teens and endangers their health, say the researchers.

Teens who have the most problems are those who grow up without support from their family. "There's a real impact when you're stigmatized and grow up in a culture that doesn't accept who you are," said Robert Garofalo, a pediatrician at the Harvard Medical School

Garofalo and his colleagues report that, compared with their straight peers, gay, lesbian, and bisexual teens are more than three times as likely to have attempted suicide in the past 12 months, almost five times as likely to have missed school because they fear for their safety, more than nine times as likely to use injectable drugs, and more than four times as likely to have been threatened with a weapon on school property.

These adolescents are also more likely to have early sexual intercourse and to have it with multiple partners, to have experienced sex against their will, and to use cocaine, marijuana, and tobacco before age 13.

This information comes from reports given anonymously in a survey of 4,159 ninth- to twelfth-graders attending public high schools in Massachusetts. A total of 104 students, or 2.5 percent of the teens, identified themselves as homosexuals. There were 69 boys and 35 girls, which is consistent with other reports that males identify themselves as homosexual at an earlier age than females. The majority of these students -- 73 -- were white.

The survey was conducted in 1995, but results were not reported until Monday in an article in the journal Pediatrics. The authors include Garofalo and Judith Palfrey of the Harvard Medical School, R. Cameron Wolf of the Harvard School of Public Health, Shari Kessel of the Massachusetts Department of Education, and Robert DuRant, now at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Their findings support previous research that identifies suicide as a leading cause of death among young gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. "It has been estimated that gay and lesbian youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers and may account for 30 percent of suicides among youths annually," according to the Pediatrics article.

Additional statistics quoted: 45 percent of gay males and 20 percent of lesbians are victims of verbal and physical assaults in secondary schools. Most high school counselors agree that students often degrade homosexuals, and that homosexual students are more likely than others to feel isolated and rejected.

Other studies have reported that 28 percent of young homosexuals drop out of high school because of discomfort and fear. Finally, sex between males has been implicated in 70 percent of adolescent AIDS cases not related to infected blood.

The new study attempts to put the situation in perspective. "It is important to realize that the majority of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth cope with a variety of stressors and become healthy, productive adults," Garofalo notes. "Yet, at 2.5 percent of the overall student population, this sizable minority remains at high risk and is often hidden or invisible, in part because of social stigmas."

To change this situation, researchers recommend educational efforts aimed at lessening or eliminating the stigma of homosexuality and identifying adolescents at risk of potential physical and psychological harm.

"Our findings suggest that this subsample of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth is more likely to initiate risk behaviors before age 13," the report states. Therefore, the authors recommend that intervention efforts begin at an early age.

They also maintain that doctors and other health care workers have a role to play in assuring both physical well-being and healthy sexual development. "Astute clinicians can serve not only as resources of information," Garofalo says, "but as confidants for school or family stresses that overwhelm some gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths."