Pierre J. Tremblay
Presented
at the Sixth Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Suicide
Prevention, Banff, Alberta, October 11-14, 1995, (c) Oct 1995. First made
available on the Internet on January 19, 1996.
Abstract
- Addendum - Introduction
Abstract
Suicidology has a history of not recognizing the homosexuality factor in
suicide problems, but a suicide problem has existed in gay communities
for the last 150 years. Non-random samples of GLB (gay, lesbian, and bisexual)
youth have produced 20% to 50% attempted suicide rates. Their predictable
over- representation in the attempted suicide problem, at least for GB
males, has now been confirmed by Dr. C. Bagley's study of 750 randomly
sampled young adult males. Homosexually active males accounted for 37.5%
of suicide attempters, and the actual percentage may be higher. Study results
and the related literature suggest that GLB youth of colour are at the
highest risk for suicide attempts. Professionals working with youth generally
lack the knowledge and understanding needed to help these "at risk" adolescents,
and their socially induced interrelated problems may be exacerbated when
they access often inappropriate services. Important changes in the youth
problem prevention/intervention fields are mandatory. The Bagley study
reveals that 87.5% of male youth suicide attempters were either sexually
abused as children and/or are homosexually oriented. Data confirming a
postulated GLB over-representation in worsening youth suicide statistics
is lacking due to the poor quality of the research work.
Addendum
In this paper it is reported that 3 out of 8 suicide attempters in the
Bagley(1994) sample are gay or bisexual. A further analysis of the data
has revealed that 5 out of 8 suicide attempters are in this category. Therefore,
62.5% of suicide attempters are GB males, not 37.5%. and they are 13.6-times
more likely to have attempted suicide than their heterosexual counterparts.
A paper related to gay demographics and suicide-related problems is being
written by Dr. Chris Bagley and Pierre Tremblay. (January 8, 1996.) [1999
Note: Paper first became available online
in September, 1996) and was published in June, 1997.]
Introduction
Suicidologists have generally been reluctant to accept or research the
informed proposition that GLB (gay, lesbian, and bisexual) people, and
especially GLB youth, are at higher risk for suicide behaviours than their
heterosexual counterparts. Therefore, research papers and articles about
youth suicide problems have traditionally omitted sexual orientation issues.
In response to four such articles published in the early 1990s (1-4),
the authors were challenged in letters to the editor(5-7)
written by professionals familiar with GLB youth and their problems. Linda
Snelling, author of one letter published in JAMA (the Journal of the
American Medical Association), was troubled by the neglect of GLB youth
in the medical professions.
"I was both astonished and saddened to find that in her recent
editorial, 'Youth Suicide: The Physician's Role in Suicide Prevention,'
Blumenthal did not discuss the impact of the repression of emerging awareness
of homosexuality on the incidence of suicide among young people." After
describing the hate-ridden environments in which GLB youth often live,
and their related problems, she stated: "If alleged experts on suicide
prevention cannot include issues relevant to gay youth in their discussions
of counselling strategies, I suggest that these youth are not only hated,
but also at risk of being ignored to death by medical professionals. Denying
the needs of these young people - or worse, ignoring their very existence
- only confirms that we in the medical profession do not consider them
important..." (7:2806)]
By 1993 a few professionals in the field of adolescent suicide prevention
were taking note of this increasingly visible debate. In American Psychologist,
Garland & Zigler(1993) wrote the following lines about GLB suicide
problems. "The humiliation and frustration suffered by some adolescents
struggling with conflicts over their sexual orientation may precipitate
suicidal behaviour(Harry,1989 [38]), although there is considerable debate
over whether homosexuality is a risk factor for suicide (see Blumenthal
1991; Snelling, 1991)." (8:173) In
the same issue of American Psychologist, the authors of Depression
in adolescence also alerted professionals about problems affecting
GLB youth. "Gay and lesbian youth have a two- to threefold risk of suicide
(Gibson, 1989 [24] ), and they are
probably at greater risk for depression"(9:158).
By 1995, little was yet to be noted with respect to the GLB suicide
problems in the field of Suicidology. In a Spring 1995 Special Issue of
SLTB (Suicide and Life Threatening Behaviour) titled Suicide
Prevention Toward the Year 2000, the existence of GLB youth was not
mentioned in the articles discussing youth aged 12-18 and 18-30 (10,
11).
Neither was the issue raised in the SLTB Summer 1995 paper Research
in adolescent suicide: Implication for training, service delivery, and
public policy (12), nor in the
SLTB Fall 1995 paper Psychosocial correlates of suicide attempts among
junior and senior high school students (13).
In the Spring Special Issue of SLTB, however, the GLB suicide issue
was addressed by Eve K. Moscicki, but not in a positive way. "A second
misconception is that gay and lesbian youth account for a large proportion
of suicides, and that sexual orientation is a major risk factor. This hypothesis
has not been tested in carefully designed studies." Noting some of the
problems related to doing this, she went on to dismiss the idea that gay
males are more at risk for suicide, as based on the result of the 1986
San Diego Suicide Study (to be discussed later in this paper). A few
research papers about the GLB youth suicide problem were cited with the
conclusion: "[I]t is not clear, however whether it [sexual orientation]
independently contributes to increased risk. Unfortunately, no information
is available from unbiased samples" (14:32).
Are GLB people in general, and GLB youth in particular, at higher risk
for manifesting suicide behaviours than their heterosexual counterparts?
A brief summary of suicide-related observations recorded over the last
150 years does suggest that such a problem has existed in gay communities,
the causes being either unique to gay males, or predominantly applying
to them.
