Research on Adolescent Sexual Orientation: Development, Health Disparities, Stigma, and Resilience

Abstract

The decade between 1998 and 2008 saw rapid increases in research on adolescent sexual orientation development and related health issues, both in quantity and in quality of studies. While much of the research originated in North America, studies from other countries also contributed to emerging understanding of developmental trajectories and social influences on the health of sexual minority adolescents. This paper reviews the body of research from the past decade on adolescent sexual orientation, focused on issues of measurement, developmental trajectories, evidence related to health disparities, and the risks and protective factors that help explain the health and developmental challenges some lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents experience. Although many sexual minority adolescents face stigma and rejection within their families, their schools, or their communities, it should be noted that most successfully navigate the developmental tasks of adolescence, and attain similar levels of health and well-being as their heterosexual peers, often despite the stigma and discrimination they encounter. Further research is needed to understand population trends as well as individual patterns of development; cultural variations in both development and health disparities; the interplay of general and unique risk factors that contribute to various health disparities and protective factors that buffer those risks; and interventions to promote the healthy development of sexual minority adolescents.

Population-level evaluation of school-based interventions to prevent problem substance use among gay, lesbian and bisexual adolescents in Canada

“…Given that as many as half of students who are harassed for being thought to be gay, lesbian or bisexual may actually identify as heterosexual (Saewyc, 2011), interventions that improve school safety and climate for sexual minority youth may reduce harassment and its effects for heterosexual students too. At the same time, the lack of beneficial effects (and counter-effects) for marijuana use among both heterosexual and sexual minority students may be due to norms around marijuana use across British Columbia; the general population has a relatively tolerant attitude toward marijuana use, and there have been regular public discussions about legalizing marijuana use.…”

“…We used multi-nomial logistic regressions to test the hypothesized effects of GSAs and policies on substance use outcomes for LGB and 100% heterosexual students separately. Given the known gender and maturational differences in substance use among adolescents by sexual orientation (Saewyc, 2011), we conducted analyses separately by gender, and controlling for grade.…”

“…Sexual minority youth disproportionally experience mental health problems compared to heterosexual peers, including depressive symptoms (Almeida et al, 2009;Marshal et al, 2011) and higher rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts (Coker et al, 2010;Saewyc, 2011). For example, a meta-analysis documented that sexual minority youth were almost three times more likely than heterosexual youth to have attempted suicide .…”

“…Stress from stigma, discrimination, rejection and overt hostility may lead sexual minority youth to use alcohol or drugs to cope with their distress. In fact, studies have found significantly higher risk for substance use (Coker et al, 2010;Saewyc, 2011), with the odds of using tobacco, alcohol, or illicit drugs among sexual minority adolescents, on average, 190% higher than among heterosexual adolescents (Marshal et al, 2008).…”

Love and Dating Patterns for Same‐ and Both‐Gender Attracted Adolescents Across Europe

“…Therefore, assessing sexual orientation along only one dimension may not identify sexual minority youth in an inclusive and comprehensive manner. The attraction component is less researched than the other two dimensions (Saewyc, 2011; Savin‐Williams, 2006). …”