A. D'Augelli Resources

Hershberger, S. & D’Augelli, A. (1995). The impact of victimization on the mental health and suicidality of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths. Developmental Psychology, 31(1), 65-74.

OVERVIEW

Previous studies on the victimization of homosexuals have focused mainly on men and not youth. A particular focus on women eludes this study and past studies, although 25% of the 221 respondents in this study were female.

The urgency of this study is to discover the causality chains that end in the suicide of gay and lesbian youth. It is estimated that homosexuals account for 30% of teen suicides. In a previous study by the authors, 42% of gay adolescents reported a past suicide attempt.

DESIGN

Organizations such as the Boston Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Youth (BAGLY) participated by enlisting their members to respond to a questionnaire. Five hundred of these surveys were mailed; the response rate was 44%. The surveys elicited information about victimization, differentiating among (1) verbal insults or threats of attack, (2) destruction of property or non-physical attack such as spitting or chasing, and (3) physical assaults including sexual attacks.

Information on other variables was also obtained: family support, self-acceptance, and mental health. Complex modeling and analyses were carried out to determine how all the variables interact. In particular the authors hypothesized the relationship between victimization, mental health, and suicide.

FINDINGS

The authors hypothesized that family support and self-acceptance would play key roles in blunting the destructive effects of victimization on mental health and suicidality. However, the study did not support this hypothesis.

CONCLUSIONS

Increasing self-acceptance and family support are only part of the solution for protecting homosexual youth against the mental health consequences of victimization. The study findings could not clearly explain the correlation between suicide and victimization. Neither family support nor self-acceptance provided a direct explanation for this correlation.

IMPLICATIONS

1. A profound implication for youth workers who counsel and support gay and lesbian youth is the paucity of solid social science data on the personal, family, and societal causes leading to suicide. In this study, a hypothesis that appeared well-founded to the experts and certainly reasonable to a lay person, was not supported by the data. Much more research needs to be funded and undertaken.
2. Significantly, social science journals are currently reporting on many perspectives relating to gay and lesbian youth. The ambiguity of these study results suggest that this is a field in its infancy with regard to survey techniques and definitive findings.

Susan Gavitt Ginsky cCYS