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.
Table
2: Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth: studies reporting suicide
attempt incidence.
|
|
| Related Factors/Reasons:
Declining academic performance 80% (12/15, in school), substance abuse
58%, running away 41%, conflicts with law 41%, truancy 39%, school dropouts
31%, chemical dependency treatment 17%, psychiatric hospitalization 31%
(5/9 - 56% - for suicide attempters), seen a psychiatrist at least once:
72%. |
|
| Related Factors/Reasons:
70% of attempters attempted suicide before age of 18. 64% of them state
that sexual orientation was part (35%) or most (29%) of reason. 59% of
substance abusers (17/48: 35%) give sexual orientation to be part (47%)
or most (12%) of reason. Suicide attempt incidence for a) abused youth
(38%), b) the ones with substance abuse problems (41%), and c) the
ones rejected by their families (4/11: 36%). |
|
| Suicide attempt Reasons:
Attempters were significantly younger when homosexual attraction attraction
detected, homo-activity and self-labeling occurred. Most attempters (Mean
age = 16.3 years, youngest = 12 years-old) were closeted when first attempt
occurred. Most struggling with sexual orientation issues alone. |
25. Hammelman, TL. Gay and lesbian youth: Contributing factors to Serious
attempts or considerations of suicide. Journal of Gay and lesbian Psychotherapy,
1993; 2(1): 77-89.
30. Remafedi, G. Adolescent homosexuality: psychosocial and medical
implications. Pediatrics, 1987; 79(3): 331-337.
36. Schneider, SG., Farberow, NL., and Kruks, NK. Suicidal Behavior
in adolescent and young adult gay men. Suicide and Life-Threatening
Behavior, 1989; 19(4): 281-394.
