US Gay Youth More Likely To Attempt Suicide In Republican Areas.

 

• Shocking new research from America reveals that gay youth are a much as five times more likely to attempt suicide if they live in a republican area.

• Recent finding show that Republican party supporters are ten times more likely to favour banning equal rights for gay people.

 

Researcher Mark Hatzenbuehler says suicide attempts by gay teenagers are more common in Republican areas.

If you happen to be gay and live in a Republican area then you're more likely to attempt suicide, a study suggests.   Attempts even by straight children are more common in GOP areas where schools lack programmes supporting gay rights, a Columbia University researcher believes.

Psychologist Mark Hatzenbuehler said those factors were a big influence on attempts even when depression and being bullied were considered.

But he also found a high rate of attempts among children not bullied or depressed when they lived in areas less supportive of gays and with relatively few Democrats.

Mr Hatzenbuehler focussed his research on Oregon state and used a social index to look at outside factors contributing to suicidal tendencies.

He considered factors such as prevalence of same-sex couples, registered Democratic voters, schools with gay-straight alliances and those with anti-discrimination policies.

Gay teenagers living in counties with the lowest social index scores were 20 per cent more likely to have attempted suicide than those in counties with the highest.

He said the results show ‘environments that are good for gay youth are also healthy for heterosexual youth’.

 

Coloured flag: He considered factors such as prevalence of same-sex couples, registered Democratic voters and schools with anti-discrimination policies

‘Is it surprising? No. Is it important? Yes,’ said Dr Robert Blum of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.

‘It takes our relatively superficial knowledge and provides a bit more depth. Clearly, we need lots more understanding, but this is very much a step in the right direction.’

The study, published in the Pediatrics journal on Monday, follows previous research that has found disproportionately high suicide rates in gay teens.

Michael Resnick, a University of Minnesota adolescent mental health expert, said it ‘certainly affirms what we've come to understand about children and youth in general’.

But Cornell University psychologist Dr Ritch Savin-Williams questioned the idea that gay teenagers are more likely to attempt suicide.

He said 'we have given them the message that they are suicidal' and stated we should 'look (at) what kind of abilities you're squashing by not having protection of gay kids.'