Bisexual women “more like likely to suffer depression than men”

 

 Europe’s Pink News reports: “A new study in the US says bisexual women are more likely to suffer from depression and to binge drink than men.

“George Mason University found that there was a high likelihood of depression and alcohol abuse for bisexual teenagers regardless of gender.  However, men appeared to experience a reduced risk of abuse as they aged. Women’s chances remained static. Researchers found that women identified as straight or gay were less prone to depression than those who were bisexual.”

Lead researcher Lisa Lindly said: “There tends to be this expectation or standard that a person picks one sexual identity and sticks with it. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about bisexuals. I think their risk has a lot more to do with stigma”.

As the Times of India reports: “ Looking closely at the survey data, Lindley noted, both bisexual girls and boys were more likely to be high-risk for depression, stress and alcohol abuse when they were teenagers. She found that the odds dropped for men as they got older, but not so for women. In addition, women who were strictly identified as straight or gay didn't have the same risk factors that bisexual women had, according Lindley. Men didn't report feeling as depressed or stressed as women did. They also didn't binge-drink or smoke as much as bisexual women. ‘I don't know is the honest answer. Perhaps it's because men, if gay or straight, have a stronger connection to their community. Bisexual women may not feel as if there is a community for them’, Lindley concluded.”

 

  See also Bisexual Women, More Likely Than Bisexual Men, to Be Depressed And Abuse Alcohol, New Study Finds

See also Lies, Damned lies, Statistics & Suicide.

Anti-stigma poster campaign highlights need for stronger LGBT community ties

 

Re:searching for LGBTQ Health! is a team of researchers in Canada who “focus on understanding how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, Two-Spirit, and queer (LGBTQ) people experience physical and mental health, and how they access health services.”

They have found that research, in both Canada and the US, has shown that bisexuals have poorer mental health and use mental health services more often than heterosexuals, gays, or lesbians (1-7). “One possible reason for this may be experiences of stigma, prejudice and discrimination that create a hostile social environment. These experiences can trigger mental health problems or make existing problems worse.”

The organisation’s own research on bisexual people in Ontario reported that discrimination negatively affected bi people’s mental health on multiple levels, “a finding backed up by other research in the field (7-10). Bisexual people in the pilot study reported several types of stressful experiences”:

1. being discriminated against for being bisexual (biphobia).
2. being labelled as “really” straight or gay/lesbian and having their bisexuality regarded as illegitimate (monosexism).
3. feeling that they have to constantly explain and justify their sexual identity to others (monosexism, biphobia).
4. the media not portraying bisexuality as a legitimate and healthy sexual identity (marginalization, erasure and invisibility).

“While experiences of stress makes us sick, relationships with friends, family, partners, and the LGBTQ community help keep us healthy. Research has found that belonging to the LGBTQ community can reduce the effects of minority stress. However, due to biphobia and monosexism, bisexuals may lack access to this support (2, 9, 11).”