A new study published in the May 5 issue of Pediatrics has documented that queer teens are far more likely than their straight peers to be victimized, threatened, and to engage in health-endangering behaviors, including suicide attempts, drug use, and unprotected sex. The study was conducted in Massachusetts high schools in 1995 as part of a national survey. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is conducted every two years by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and administered on a voluntary and anonymous basis to high school students in all 50 states.
Students participate in the survey on a voluntary and anonymous basis.
The national survey does not include questions about sexual orientation. All these figures were higher than among straight teens. Similar findings about queer youth have been reported for years. But most of these surveys relied on volunteers or on youth who came into social service agencies for help, factors that critics said may have skewed results. Joyce Hunter, a researcher at the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavior Studies at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, said the Massachusetts findings are important because they come from a random sample that reinforces findings from other non-random surveys that she and others have conducted.