Self-Reported Health and Patterns of Romantic Love in Adolescents from Eight European Countries and Regions

Abstract

Purpose: Sexual minority youth (SMY) are at increased risk of poor health, but it remains unclear whether this phenomenon is universal. In this study, nationally representative samples of 15-year olds from eight European countries and regions were investigated to test if adolescents who have been in love with same-or both-gender partners report poorer health than those exclusively in love with opposite-gender partners or who have never been in love. Methods: A subsample of 13,674 adolescents participating in the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study was used. We conducted binary logistic regression, adjusted for gender, region, and relative family affluence, to analyze associations between self-reported romantic love, multiple psychosomatic symptoms, and poor self-rated health. Results: Adolescents reporting same-gender love (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.50, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.11-2.02) and both-gender love (aOR = 3.57, 95% CI: 2.65-4.83) had significantly higher odds for multiple psychosomatic symptoms than those who reported opposite-gender love. Similarly, both SMY groups had higher odds of poor self-rated health (aOR = 2.95, 95% CI: 1.64-5.31 and aOR = 3.08, 95% CI: 1.79-5.31, respectively). Those who reported that they have never been in love had significantly lower odds for multiple symptoms. Adjustment for sociodemographic variables and stratifying by gender did not substantially change the odds ratios. Conclusion: Adolescents in love with same-and both-gender partners reported poorer subjective health outcomes than those in love with opposite-gender partners or who reported never being in love, suggesting that SMY health inequalities are found across various European countries and regions.

Connected, Respected and Contributing to Their World: The Case of Sexual Minority and Non-Minority Young People in Ireland

“…This result echoes earlier findings that adolescents who identify as bisexual face disproportionate health risks across a wide range of determinants and health outcomes compared to their peers who identify as heterosexual, or even lesbian or gay [73][74][75]. Our international HBSC team found that among adolescents from eight European countries or regions, both-gender attracted youth were the most likely to report substance use [76] or rate their health as poor and report multiple health symptoms [77]. This pattern of unfavorable outcomes for both-gender attracted or bisexual youth may be because bisexuality is often "invisible" or denied by members of the individuals' social network.…”

“…Finally, it should be noted that since HBSC collects data in classrooms, young people who were absent on the day of the data collection or attend youth centers or out of school services will inevitably be excluded from the sample. Given that sexual minority youth tend to miss school due to health problems [77] or due to fear of harassment and bullying [36], they are probably underrepresented in the present study. Further work is needed to include a broader sample of young people both within and outside the traditional school setting (e.g., by using community sampling).…”

Poor self-reported health in association with sleep duration and health complaints among adolescents in Latvia

“…The results showed that almost 3% of adolescents reported poor health, which is slightly more than reported in other studies on European countries [23]. At the same time, results can be found reporting even up to 11% of adolescents with poor self-reported health [24].…”

Romantic love and involvement in bullying and cyberbullying in 15-year-old adolescents from eight European countries and regions

“…While most North American studies have reported similar gender differences, this finding is at odds with previous evidence from Belgium (DeSmet et al, 2018). Recent findings demonstrate that opposite-and both-gender love is associated with disproportionate risk of substance use (Költő et al, 2019) and elevated rates of psychosomatic health symptoms and poor self-rated health (Költő et al, 2020) among adolescents in Europe. Together, these findings suggest that elevated rates of bullying victimization among sexual minority adolescents, and its negative health correlates, may be widespread across different countries and cultures.…”

“…National teams varied as to the conditions attached to approval and whether active or passive consent was required from schools, parents, and pupils. The institutional ethical boards and type of consent by participating country are listed by Költő et al (2020). Children were informed before administration of the questionnaires that they were free to decide whether they wanted to participate or not, and that they could skip any questions they did not want to answer and stop taking part at any point during the survey.…”