Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/17716
Title: Suicidal risk and sexual orientation in adolescence: A population-based study in Iceland
Contributor(s): Arnarsson, Arsaell (author); Sveinbjornsdottir, Sigrun (author); Thorsteinsson, Einar B  (author)orcid ; Bjarnason, Thoroddur (author)
Publication Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1177/1403494815585402
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/17716
Abstract: Aim: Suicidality is an important public health problem, particularly among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescents and young adults. The purpose of the present study is to compare the rate of suicide ideations and attempts among LGB adolescent to that of non-LGB adolescents in a population-based sample, and to identify important protective factors as well as risk factors Method: We used the Icelandic data set from the 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. The sample consisted of 3813 grade 10 Icelandic adolescents; 1876 girls and 1937 boys. The participants were asked about attraction and/or activity, as well as about suicidal ideation and/or attempts. The questionnaire also included various other items regarding health and lifestyle. Results: LGB adolescents were five to six times more likely to have had frequent suicidal ideations. Factors that were associated with less suicide ideations and fewer attempts were easy communication and liking school. The LGB girls were six times more likely to have had frequent suicide attempts, whilst the LGB boys were 17 times more likely to have attempted suicide that often. No specific protective or risk factors were identified for suicidality in LGB adolescents other than bullying. Conclusions: Adolescents that had engaged in heterosexual activity and those that had LGB attraction had similarly heightened risk for suicidality, but sexually active LGB adolescents were far more likely to have suicidal ideations or to have attempted suicide.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 43(5), p. 497-505
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd
Place of Publication: United Kingdom
ISSN: 1651-1905
1403-4948
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 170102 Developmental Psychology and Ageing
170106 Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology
170105 Gender Psychology
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 520106 Psychology of ageing
520302 Clinical psychology
520502 Gender psychology
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 920206 Health Inequalities
920204 Evaluation of Health Outcomes
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 200204 Health inequalities
200202 Evaluation of health outcomes
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Psychology

Files in This Item:
3 files
File Description SizeFormat 
Show full item record

SCOPUSTM   
Citations

25
checked on Feb 17, 2024

Page view(s)

1,186
checked on Mar 9, 2023
Google Media

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Items in Research UNE are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.