The bluer the Oregon county, the lower the gay-teen suicide rate

[Stinky The Clown]

In a newly released study primarily focused on gay-teen suicide rates in Oregon, some interesting details were discovered. The numbers of suicide attempts by gay teens went down by 20% in counties whose schools had anti-bullying, anti-discrimination policies and/or a Gay-Straight Alliance. The suicide rate was also lower when the proportion of Democrats was higher in the county.

A community that was supportive of gay teens not only curbed suicide among gays, the study found, but also lowered the rate of suicide attempts by heterosexual students by 9%.

Researchers led by Mark Hatzenbuehler looked at five aspects of the social environment surrounding gay, lesbian and bisexual youth on a countywide level: the proportion of schools with anti-bullying policies specifically protecting these students; the proportion of schools with a Gay-Straight Alliance; the proportion of schools with anti-discrimination policies that included sexual orientation; the proportion of same-sex couples; and the proportion of Democrats in the county. Then they rated each of Oregon's 34 counties based on the results of those findings.

The study found that a more supportive social environment was associated with 20% fewer suicide attempts than an unsupportive environment. A supportive environment was also associated with a 9% lower rate of attempted suicide among heterosexual students.

>snip<

More at this link:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/04/teen-suicide-rates-drop-in-in-blue-counties.html

[Arugula Latte]

1. Basic Rights Oregon has been running these pro-gay marriage ads here:

http://www.katu.com/news/118933624.html?skipthumb=Y

http://www.kval.com/news/local/118933624.html

They are in heavy rotation. I don't know if they are being seen in all parts of Oregon (I'm in Portland).

[Zenlitened]

2. K&r. This is important work, and an important discussion to have. - n/t

[gratuitous]

3. Gee, kids feel valued, they don't kill themselves

There's probably some metric that we're not accounting for that will prove the bigots right. And if there isn't, they'll make one up. But I intend to keep this little nugget of information handy for Annual Conference in July.

[Snoutport]

4. This one went on facebook!

THanks for the link! As a teacher this is valuable information!