Homosexual
Orientation Demographic Study:
Young
Adult Calgary Male
End
Notes, Tables & Bibliography
|
November 1996 • NOTE:
This paper is an edited version of July 4, 1996 paper previously located
at this website. The paper is now published (with some minor changes) under
the title On the prevalence of homosexuality and bisexuality in a
random community survey of 750 men aged 18 to 27, The Journal of
Homosexuality, Vol. 36, No. 2, 1998, p. 1-18. PubMed "abstract"
link with a document delivery services. This study, combined with the results
of another 1998 study, has produced a very important CAVEAT
ALERT!
See ADDENDUM..
ON THE PREVALENCE OF HOMOSEXUALITY AND
BISEXUALITY IN A RANDOM COMMUNITY SURVEY OF 750 MEN AGED 18 TO 27
End Notes
[1] Canadian society is judged to be
highly homophobic on the basis of our personal experience and that of our
colleagues in the gay community of Canada, and data in the Canada Youth
& Aids Study (King et al., 1988). For example, only 33 percent of Grade
7 students agreed with the statement "Homosexuals should be allowed to
be teachers," and only 18 percent reported that "they would be comfortable
talking with a homosexual person." If white adolescents had similar attitudes
with respect to people of colour, the society producing youth would be
deemed "extremely racist." The American studies included in Herdt (1989),
and the work reviewed by Savin-Williams (1994) on the oppression and hatred
experienced by gay and lesbian youth in high schools is another kind of
evidence indicating the high degree of homo-hatred existing in North American
cultures.
2. The 20 urban areas reported on
by Binson et al. (1995) have a mean population 1.4 million, or about twice
Calgary's population of .74 million. Given the general increase in percentages
of homosexually oriented males with increasing larger cities (Michael et
al. 1994; Binson et al. 1995), the underestimates we present for the Binson
et al. (1995) male homosexuality results for the 20 urban areas sampled
would be much larger if our sampling had been done in a city having 1.4
million inhabitants.
3. Our findings on homosexually oriented
18 to 27-year-old males in Calgary is a minimum estimate given that (a)
Calgary's city centre harbouring the gay community (which has the highest
proportion of homosexually oriented males in Calgary) and (b) Calgary's
upper-class neighbourhoods (also expected to have higher proportions of
homosexually oriented males, for reasons presented in this paper), are
not represented in our sample. Therefore, more than 12.7 percent of Calgary's
young adult males would be classified homosexually oriented on the basis
of being currently homosexually active (9.2%) and or self-labelling as
homosexual and/or bisexual (11.1%).
Table 1
First and
Last Experiences of Voluntary Homosexual and Bisexual Contacts in 750 Adult
Males Aged 18 to 27, and current Self-Declared Sexual Status
Age
Category
|
First Homosexual Constact
|
Last Homosexual Contact
|
% Describing Self as Homo-
sexual 18-27
|
% Describing Self as Bisexual
18-27
|
|
12 to 14
|
36/750
(4.8%)
|
21/750
(2.8%)
|
5/36
(13.9%)
|
7/36
(19.4%)
|
|
15 to 17
|
29/750
(3.9%)
|
15/750
(2.9%)
|
13/29
(41.4%)
|
12/29
(41.4%)
|
|
18 to 27
|
40/759
(5.3%)
|
69/750
(9.2%)
|
27/40
(67.5%)
|
10/40
(25.0%)
|
|
12 to 27
|
105/750
(14.0%)
|
105/750
(14.0%)
|
44/105
(41,9%)
|
29/105
(27.6%)
|
Table 2
Sexual Status
of Sexually Active and Celibate Homosexual, Bisexual, and Heterosexual
Males at Interview,
and Level of Depression
in Past Two Weeks
|
Category
|
Active
Homo-
sexual
|
Active
Hetero-
sexual
|
Active
Bisexual
|
Celibate
Homo-
sexual
|
Celibate
Hetero-
sexual
|
Homosexual sex 1+
times in past 6 months
|
YES
|
NO
|
YES
|
NO
|
NO
|
Heterosexual sex 1+
times in past 6 months
|
NO
|
YES
|
YES
|
NO
|
NO
|
|
Totals
|
32/750
4.3%
|
544/759
72.6%
|
37/750
4.9%
|
13/750
1.7%
|
124/750
16.5%
|
|
Homosexual Self-Label
|
28/32
90.6%
|
0/544
0.0%
|
1/37
2.7%
|
13/13
100.0%
|
1/124
0.8%
|
Bisexual
Self-Label
|
5/32
15.6%
|
10/544
1.8%
|
25/37
67.6%
|
4/13
30.8%
|
3/124
0.8%
|
|
Heterosexual Self-Label
|
1/32
3.1%
|
540/544
99.3%
|
30/37
81.1%
|
0/13
0.1%
|
123/124
99.6%
|
CES-Depression Scores - past
2 weeks
Standard Deviation ( )
|
14.6
(9.2)
|
13.7
(7.9)
|
15.7
(9.3)
|
27.1
(16.5)
|
23.6
(15.5)
|
% CES-D Score 28+
(cut-off for serious
clinical depression)
|
6.2%
|
2.6%
|
10.8%
|
48.1%
|
21.8%
|
Note: Some males declared
more than one type of sexual orientation. Categorization of 13 "celibate-homosexual"
and 124 "celibate-heterosexual" males is based on predominant categories
of self-declared sexual status. Bonferroni analysis for Depression Score,
celibate heterosexual vs. all other groups, p <.01. Celibate homosexual
versus all other groups, p <. 01. Eta (a non-linear measure of association
derived from analysis of variance) for CES-D depression score across all
groups: 0.16, p < .01.
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Email:
Pierre Tremblay: ----- pierre@youth-suicide.com ----- (403) 245-8827
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