Bisexual women are more likely than their male counterparts to suffer from depression and stress and to binge-drink, according to a new national study led by George Mason University researcher Lisa Lindley.
Bisexual women also are at greater risk to smoke and be victimized, the research finds.
"Why?" Lindley wonders. "That's what we keep asking."
She has some theories. "Bisexuals are often invisible," she says of bisexual women. "There's a lot of prejudice against them. They're told 'You're confused -- pick one.' 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."
The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, uses three different dimensions of sexuality -- identity, behavior and attraction -- and links them to a variety of health outcomes, says Lindley, an associate professor in Mason's Department of Global and Community Health within the College of Health and Human Services.
Looking closely at the survey data, Lindley notes, 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, Lindley says. More studies are needed to understand what is going on with these young women, she adds.
Lindley's research builds on new information. Until now, few national studies have asked about sexual attraction, behavior and identity, Lindley says. Some think bisexuals are increasing the risk level reported among the overall lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, she says. Researchers need to learn more about the individual communities.
| Contact: Michele McDonald mmcdon15@gmu.edu 703-993-9511 George Mason University Source:Eurekalert |