A recent investigation has brought to light concerning numbers on suicide attempt rates among the LGBT community. The research shows how gay and bisexual men are six times more likely to attempt suicide than their counterparts.
The investigation was held by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The rates show that younger gay and bisexual men are the most affected on suffering suicide attempt numbers, anxiety and depression.
Researchers used 6,000 interviews held by the Stonewall Gay and Bisexual Men’s Survey to estimate this rates and analyzed data such as, age, ethnicity and income. The team also studied factors of the subjects’ life that could lead to depression, anxiety and suicidality.
Shocking suicide attempts rates among the LGBT community
The team of investigators is one of the first to analyze mental health differences between gay and bisexual men. Additionally, the research also found that men from the LGBT community under the age of 26 were most likely to attempt suicide.
The database collected interviews with men from the LGBT community above 16 years old and living in the United Kingdom.
According to the results, gay and bisexual men are twice as likely to suffer from depression and five times more likely to have attempted suicide.
Low-income LGBT men were the ones most likely to suffer depression, anxiety and self-harm while those with lower levels of education were found to be twice as likely to suffer from those factors than their counterparts.
“Minority groups are usually thought to be more homogeneous than they actually are, in fact there is a great variation in health and life situations among this group. What is clear is that the health inequalities among gay and bisexual men mirror those in the broader society” Said Dr. Ford Hickson, lead author of the study.
One of the most shocking findings was the age differences, almost 6 percent of gay and bisexual men have attempted suicide in the past year, against older counterparts.
The team of researchers explains the age gap throughout life experience and coping with homophobia. Dr. Hickson assured that older aged men are most likely to cope better with subjects like rejection and homophobia in general.
Since younger LGBT men suffer from bullying in schools and early job experiences, compared to older gay and bisexual men.
In other findings, black gay or bisexual men were found to be five times more likely to attempt suicide than white counterparts. They are also most likely to suffer from depression and anxiety.
According to lead author Dr. Hickson, those gay and bisexual men that live with lovers or husbands are less likely to attempt suicide
Source: The Daily Beast