By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Oct 20 | A report issued yesterday by the Adolescent Health Research Group at the University of Auckland, lead by Dr Simon Denny, says that in the past 12 months more than a third of same/both-sex attracted secondary school students had seriously thought about attempting suicide and around half had deliberately harmed themselves.The report also continued on to state that there are elevated rates of alcohol and drug use, Stds and mental ill-health among same/both- sex attracted students in comparison to their opposite-sex attracted counterparts.
The report is entitled:Results for Young People Attracted to Both Sexes, an analysis of the data from Youth 07: The Health and Well-being Secondary School Students in New Zealand; a study in which 8,002 secondary school students responded to questions on sexual attraction, health and well-being.
The study also found found that there were several notable improvements such as decreased rates of smoking and rewarding friendships with peers compared to the results of a similar survey conducted nine years ago.
Dr Kathleen Quinlivan, a Senior Lecturer in the College of Education at the University of Canterbury, stated,
“This report sends a clear message to schools and communities that they need to start involving queer youth to learn from them about addressing prejudice and discrimination.”
Nathan Brown, a spokesperson for youth at the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF) said,
“The improvements are wonderful. However it’s very clear that the rates of bullying and isolation that same-sex attracted youth reported have real and serious consequences for these young people. But by addressing the issues affecting same-sex attracted young people schools will improve learning outcomes for all students by teaching how to succeed in a diverse society.”
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