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En Belgique

Suicidal ideation and behavior among homosexual adolescents and young adults
The study group consisted of 404 youngsters aged 15 and 27 years (mean 20.4 yrs; std.dev. 2.3 yrs). Three variables reflecting the gender of current sexual partners, gender of current sexual fantasy objects, and the gender of desired persons for current intimacy were used to classify respondents as homosexual and bisexual or heterosexual. K-means clustering of cases classified 71 boys as heterosexual (15.6%), 114 girls as heterosexual (28.2%), 137 male youngsters as gay or bisexual (34%), and 82 girls as lesbian or bisexual (20.2%). Among heterosexual young males 5.9% reported a suicide attempt. Corresponding rates were 12.4% among gay and bisexual male youngsters, 5.4% among heterosexual girls, and 25.0% among homo- or bisexual girls. Analysis of variance with age as co-variate and sexual orientation as the independent variable showed these differences to be highly significant (p<0.000). Post-hoc comparisons revealed that attempted suicide was especially common among homo- and bisexual girls (LSD test; p < 0.000). Suicidal ideation was reported by 16.1% of heterosexual young males, 33.3% of homo- and bisexual male youngsters, 24.3% of heterosexual girls, and 45.0% of homo- or bisexual girls. Analysis of variance with age as co-variate showed these differences to be highly significant (p < 001). Post-hoc comparisons indicated that homo- and bisexual male and female youngsters reported suicidal ideation significantly more commonly than their heterosexual counterparts.
CONCLUSION: Suicidal ideation and behaviour are more common among homo- and bisexual young individuals than a mong heterosexual youngsters. Especially young lesbian and/or bisexual girls show a common occurrence of attempted suicide and suicidal ideation.
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Vincke J, and van Herringen K, Suicidal ideation and behavior among homosexual adolescents and young adults: a comparative study Lire la synthèse. Paper presented at the 7th European Symposium on Suicide and Suicidal Behaviour.

Dans le monde

Santé, bien-être et homosexualité
"Les données les plus récentes sont celles de Gibson en 1989. Selon une étude réalisée pour le Departement of Health Human Service des Etats-Unis, le suicide serait la principale cause de décès chez les jeunes gays et lesbiennes, représentant 30% de tous les suicides chez les adolescents. Gibson et d'autres ont calculé que le risque de suicides parmi les jeunes gays et lesbiennes est 3 fois plus élevé que chez les adolescents hétérosexuels. La majorité des tentatives de suicide des gays et lesbiennes a lieu lorsqu'ils sont jeunes et elles sont de deux à trois fois plus élevée que chez les hétérosexuels. Chez les gays, c'est l'adolescence qui est la période la plus critique, compte tenu du stress associé à la reconnaissance de leur identité sexuelle par eux-même, par leur famille et par leur collectivité."
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in Clermont M., Santé, bien-être et homosexualité : Éléments de problématique et pistes d'intervention, Gouvernement du Québec, Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux, 1996, pp.22-24.

The Impact of Victimization on the Mental Health and Suicidality of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youths
"Dans une étude récente sur la santé mentale et le suicide auprès des jeunes gays, lesbiennes et bisexuels, Hersherger & D'Augelli (1995) constatent aussi qu'ils sont à risques plus élevés d'avoir des idées suicidaires ou de faire des tentatives de suicides que les jeunes hétérosexuels."
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in Clermont M., Santé, bien-être et homosexualité : Éléments de problématique et pistes d'intervention, Gouvernement du Québec, Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux, 1996, p.25.
D'Augelli AR, Hershberger SL, Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth in community settings: personal challenges and mental health problems, American Journal of Community Psychology, 21(4), 421-48, 1993.
Hershberger SL, D'Augelli AR, The Impact of Victimization on the Mental Health and Suicidality of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youths, Developmental Psychology, 31(1), 65-74, 1995.

Suicidal behaviors in homosexual and bisexual males.
A stratified random sample of 750 males in Calgary, Canada, aged 18-27 years, were given questions on sexual activity and orientation. Mental health questions included a measure of suicidality and of acts of deliberate self-harm. A computerized response format, which has been established as a good method for eliciting sensitive personal data, ensured anonymity. Almost 13% of the males were classified as homosexual or bisexual on the basis of being currently homosexually active or by self-identification. Significantly higher rates of previous suicidal ideas and actions were reported by homosexually oriented males than by heterosexual males. Homosexually oriented males accounted for 62.5% of suicide attempters. These findings, which indicate that homosexual and bisexual males are 13.9 times more at risk for a serious suicide attempt, are consonant with previous findings. The predominant reason for the suicidality of these young males may be linked to the process of "coming out," especially for those who currently have high levels of depression. These results underscore the need for qualified services rarely available to homosexually oriented youth.
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Bagley C, Tremblay P, Department of Social Work Studies, University of Southamptom, England, 1997. Voir le document d'origine

Lifetime prevalence of suicide symptoms and affective disorders
A subsample of the NHANES III sample (n = 3648 males 15- to 39-years-old) were interviewed in their homes. They were "assessed for both prevalence of affective disorders and related symptoms and genders of their lifetime sexual partners." Only 2.2 percent of males acknowledged having "any male sex partners in their lifetime," and were reported to have a lifetime suicide attempt incidence of 19.3%, compared to a 3.6% incidence for males who only had female sexual partners, and 0.5% for males reporting having had no sexual partners. For homosexually active males, 98% of the ones reporting a suicide attempt were 17- to 29-years-old, but heterosexually active males who had attempted suicide did not have such an age range concentration. The incidence of suicide attempters were inrelated to age categories for heterosexually oriented males or male reporting having not had sexual partners. Homosexually oriented males would therefore be 5.4 times (19.3 vs 3.6%) more likely to be suicide attempters than heterosexually oriented males. The greater likelihood for recurrent Major Depression and for "any affective disorder" for homosexually oriented males compared to their heterosexual counterparts was 3.5 times (12.2 vs 3.5%) and 2.4 times (21.5 vs 8.8%), respectively. Homosexually oriented males also had significantly higher composite scores for suicide-related symptoms. The NHANES III (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) "is a periodoc population based health survey conducted by the National Cneter for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" (p. 574).
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Cochran, Susan, and Mays, Vickie, Lifetime prevalence of suicide symptoms and affective disorders among men reporting same-sex sexual partners: results from NHANES III, American Journal of Public Health, 90(4), 573-78, 2000.

Is sexual orientation related to mental health problems and suicidality?
Study of a a 21-year longitudinal birth cohort sample of 1265 children born in Christchurch, New Zealand. At age 21, 2.8% (n = 28) were classified as being of gay, lesbian, or bisexual sexual orientation. Conclusion: " Findings support recent evidence suggesting that gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people are at increased risk of mental health problems, with these associations being particularly evident for measures of suicidal behavior and multiple disorder." At 95% confidence interval, GLB youth at 6.2 times (2.7 - 14.3) more likely to have reported a suicide attempt, and 5.9 times (2.4 - 14.8) more likely to be classified has having experienced 2 or more psychiatric disorders.
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Fergusson DM, Horwood LJ, Beautrais & AL, Is sexual orientation related to mental health problems and suicidality in young people?, Archives of General Psychiatry, 56(10), pp.876-880, 1999. Full Text available online.

Is sexual orientation related to mental health problems and suicidality
The study is an analysis of 3.8% of public school students reporting being GLBN (gay, lesbian, bisexual, or "not sure" of their sexual orientation), and 96.2% reporting being heterosexual, their average age being 16.1 years. Latter group includes individuals reporting same-sex activity, but not identifying as GLBN, or 0.81% of the sample. The 1.9% percent of the sample reporting same-sex activity had a suicide attempt rate (for the past 12 months) of 30.6% versus 9.2% for their heterosexual counterpart. The suicide attempt rate for adolescents identified as GLBN was 31.0% versus 9.1% for heterosexual identified adolescents, .22.7% versus 9.1% for adolescents "not sure" of sexual orientation, and 35.3% versus 9.1% for GLB adolescents (not including "not sure" adolescents). GLBN adolescents also at significantly greater risk than heterosexual adolescents for receiving a high score on the three "risk behaviors" scales used for analysis (p < .001): (1) drug use, (2) sexual behavior, and (3) violence / victimization. Given that 18.3% of adolescents did not answer either the sexual orientation question (11%) or the suicide attempt question (10%), the analysis applies only to 81.7% of the total sample: N = 3365 out of 4167 students.
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Garofalo R, Wolf RC, R, Lawrence MS, and Wissow S, Is sexual orientation related to mental health problems and suicidality attempts among a representative sample of youth, Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 153(5), 487-93, 1999. Abstract & Full text from APAM web site. Related Reuters' article (May, 1999): Gay, lesbian adolescents face high suicide risk. (Alternate Link)