A study which will be officially launched at Auckland University tonight has found how supportive a high school is towards lgbt students can make a particular difference to the mental health of young gay and bisexual men. “Our report suggests that the vulnerability of sexual minority students to discrimination, victimisation and poor mental health outcomes, may be affected by the environment of the school they attend,” says lead author, Associate Professor Simon Denny. “Male sexual minority students who attend schools with a generally supportive school environment, including support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students report lower rates of both depressive symptoms and suicide risk,” says Dr Denny. The study used information gathered from more than 9,000 students from 96 high schools around New Zealand in 2007, which included questions on sexual attraction, depressive symptoms, and suicide risk. Students reported their experiences of supportive environments at school and lgbt bullying, while nearly 3,000 teachers answered questions including how supportive their schools were. It’s the first study in the world to compare teachers’ ratings of their school’s support for lgbt students, with the wellbeing and experiences of these students. “Our findings suggest that there may be benefits for sexual minority students in schools where a dual approach is taken to both increase the overall supportiveness of the school and specific strategies are used to promote the safety and well-being of sexually minority students in the school,” Dr Denny says. “Results indicated that the impact of a positive school environment was associated with reduced depressive symptoms and suicidal intentions in male, but not female sexual minority students,” he says. “That’s in line with it being known that male students are more likely than female students to engage in overt victimisation or bullying of males, and bullying has a very negative impact on mental wellbeing. “Any gender role non-conformity of individuals, especially of sexual minority people, is judged particularly harshly by boys and this could help to account for the sex differences observed in this study,” he says. The study also highlighted the diversity of experiences among lgbt youth. It found bisexual teenagers experienced higher rates of mental health concerns, compared to gay and lesbian youth. “Future research needs to recognise the range of experiences of sexual minority youth, as well as for gender diverse young people, and the need to identify subgroups of sexuality and gender diverse students at risk of poor psycho-social outcomes as intervention efforts may be more effective if tailored to the specific needs of these groups,” Dr Denny says. “Our results support an important shift away from viewing lgbt students as inherently at risk of poor mental health outcomes, to viewing the environments around them as crucial to their emotional and mental well-being.” Dr Denny says the research supports initiatives such as addressing lgbt bullying and victimisation, training teachers on effective interventions to prevent harassment; availability of information, resources, and support at school about lgbt students, presence of school-based support groups and inclusion of lgbt people or issues in the school curriculum. The research will be launched tonight, along with results from the Youth ’12 study, which found while four per cent of high school students report being gay or bisexual, very few feel comfortable talking to family members about it.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 3rd December 2014 - 12:45pm