Suicide ideation and bullying among US adolescents: examining the intersections of sexual orientation, gender, and race/ethnicity.

Publisher: American Public Health Association Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 1254074 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1541-0048 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 00900036 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Am J Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Washington, DC : American Public Health Association
Original Publication: New York [etc.]

Bullying*; Ethnicity/*statistics & numerical data ; Racial Groups/*statistics & numerical data ; Sexual Behavior/*statistics & numerical data ; Suicide/*statistics & numerical data; Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Sex Factors ; Suicidal Ideation ; United States/epidemiology

Objectives: We examined how race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation shape adolescents' likelihood of being bullied and vulnerability to suicide ideation.
Methods: We analyzed pooled data from the 2009 and 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (n = 75 344) to assess race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation variation in being bullied and suicide ideation.
Results: White and Hispanic gay and bisexual males, White lesbian and bisexual females, and Hispanic bisexual females were more likely to be bullied than were White heterosexual adolescents. Black lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths' vulnerability to being bullied was not significantly different from that of White heterosexual youths. Black and Hispanic heterosexual youths were less likely to be bullied than were White heterosexual youths. Despite differences in the likelihood of being bullied, sexual minority youths were more likely to report suicide ideation, regardless of their race/ethnicity, their gender, or whether they have been bullied.
Conclusions: Future research should examine how adolescents' intersecting identities shape their experience of victimization and suicidality. School personnel should develop antibullying and antihomophobia policies in response to the disproportionate risk of being bullied and reporting suicidality among sexual minority youths.

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Date Created: 20150320 Date Completed: 20150615 Latest Revision: 20211203

20221213

PMC4386523

10.2105/AJPH.2014.302391

25790421