Protective Factors in the Lives of Bisexual Adolescents in North America

Abstract

Objectives-We compared protective factors among bisexual adolescents with those of heterosexual, mostly heterosexual, and gay or lesbian adolescents.Methods-We analyzed 6 school-based surveys in Minnesota and British Columbia. Sexual orientation was measured by gender of sexual partners, attraction, or self-labeling. Protective factors included family connectedness, school connectedness, and religious involvement. General linear models, conducted separately by gender and adjusted for age, tested differences between orientation groups.Results-Bisexual adolescents reported significantly less family and school connectedness than did heterosexual and mostly heterosexual adolescents and higher or similar levels of religious involvement. In surveys that measured orientation by self-labeling or attraction, levels of protective factors were generally higher among bisexual than among gay and lesbian respondents. Adolescents with sexual partners of both genders reported levels of protective factors lower than or similar to those of adolescents with same-gender partners.Conclusions-Bisexual adolescents had lower levels of most protective factors than did heterosexual adolescents, which may help explain their higher prevalence of risky behavior. Social connectedness should be monitored by including questions about protective factors in youth health surveys.Adolescence is a key developmental period with long-term effects on physical and psychological health, and adolescents negotiate a variety of environmental challenges during these years. Although public health practice often focuses on preventing or decreasing health risks, in the past decade increasing attention has been paid to identifying protective factors that can foster healthy development. Protective factors are events, circumstances, and life Requests for reprints should be sent to Elizabeth M. Saewyc, University of British Columbia School of Nursing, T201-2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 2B5, Canada (e-mail: saewyc@interchange.ubc.ca). Contributors E. M. Saewyc originated the study, supervised all aspects of implementation, and led the development of the article, including revising the final draft. Y. Homma contributed to literature review and analyses, and wrote several drafts of the article. C. L. Skay guided the statistical analyses and psychometric evaluation of the measures and edited the article. L. H. Bearinger and M. D. Resnick helped create many of the original protective factor measures and contributed to conceptualization of the study and to the analytic strategies and interpretation. E. Reis assisted with the interpretation of the analyses. All authors helped to conceptualize ideas, interpreted findings, and reviewed drafts of the article. Human Participant ProtectionThe institutional review board of the University of Minnesota reviewed and approved this study, as did the behavioral research ethics board of the University of British Columbia. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptAm J Public Health. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2010 ...

Sexual orientation and quality of life among students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Nigeria.

“…In this study, it is clear that as expected there appears to be some discrepancy between sexual identity, attraction and behaviour as stated by previous authors 3,5,8,9 . A lot of missing data under sexual practices may reflect unwillingness taboo associated with open discussion of sexual matters in this environment but it might also be that non responders are more likely to be gay/bisexuals who are afraid to self-identify because of the cultural, religious and legal implications 20 .…”

“…Authors have posited that sexual attraction is the most important construct for measuring sexual orientation 6,7 . Not everyone with same-sex attraction engage in sexual activity with partners of the same sex 5,8 and vice versa. It is thus important to know if there are discrepancies in attraction and behaviour.…”

De moeite waard? Acceptatie van seksuele diversiteit op school en de zelfwaardering van lesbische, homoseksuele en biseksuele jongeren

“…In lijn met eerdere oproepen van wetenschappers (Russel, 2005;Saewyc et al, 2009) zijn wij van mening dat de aandacht van onderzoekers niet alleen uit moet gaan naar wat LHB-jongeren kwetsbaar maakt ten aanzien van hun psychisch welbevinden, maar ook naar mogelijk protectieve factoren voor deze doelgroep, zoals in hoeverre zij beschikken over steun en hulp in hun sociale contexten. Gelet op de spilfunctie van school en medeleerlingen voor adolescenten, richten wij ons in deze studie op protectieve factoren in de schoolomgeving die LHB-jongeren zouden kunnen helpen om zichzelf positief te waarderen.…”

Office-Based Care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth

“…These resilient young adults lead happy, productive lives. 18,19 HEALTH DISPARITIES FOR SEXUAL MINORITY YOUTH Stigmatization, ostracism, and parental rejection remain common. Resulting struggles with self-image and selfesteem put sexual minority youth at risk.…”