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February 5th, 2013
11:25 AM ET
Does it 'get better' for bullied gay or bisexual youth?The answer to that question depends on how you look at it, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics. Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adolescents are victims of bullying twice as often as their heterosexual peers. But research finds that the overall incidence decreases after high school, particularly among girls. However, the scars of emotional distress remain significantly higher in LGB youth. "What we see is, slightly over half of LGB teens are bullied when they're ages 13 to 14, and then when they're ages 19 to 20, the rates of bullying are fewer than 10 percent," said study author Joseph Robinson from the Department of Educational Psychology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Robinson says these numbers support the message of the "It Gets Better Project." The project features user-created videos and was designed to remind lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender teenagers "the levels of happiness, potential and positivity their lives will reach - if they can just get through their teen years," according to its website. "These data provide strong empirical support that it does get better," Robinson said. "We've been hearing ... this message of hope. These data are consistent." Researchers studied 4,135 students in England who were in year 9 (equal to eighth grade in the United States) in 2004– half boys and half girls. All were white and British. Of the total group, 4.5% identified themselves as LGB. Participants were interviewed annually through 2010. At the start, researchers surveyed parents about whether their child was called names. Throughout the study, the students answered questions about being bullied through name-calling, threats of physical violence against them or actual physical violence within the year prior. They also reported if they felt unhappy, depressed or worthless. The numbers of LGB youth who reported being victim to bullying significantly dropped overall. However, the decrease was not seen when gay/bisexual boys were compared to heterosexual boys. In fact, gay/bisexual males were more than four times as likely to report bullying at the end of the study, when the participants were ages 19 to 20. "We need to better understand why (relative) rates of bullying get worse for gay/bisexual males after high school," Robinson said. One year after high school ended, LGB youth had significantly more emotional distress than their heterosexual peers. Robinson says the study suggests a need to focus on reducing bullying. "Bullying and emotional distress during high school predict about half of the LGB-straight disparity in emotional distress after high school, suggesting that we may be able to reduce that disparity by reducing bullying during high school and treating earlier emotional distress," he said. The study authors note the data is self-reported and the results may not generalize to other countries, even though there was no reason to suspect different results between the United Kingdom and the United States.
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Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love. Recent Comments
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I think the whole "it gets better" BS is BS. It says that you just have to accept being bullied. Stand-up and fight for your rights. Call the cops! Do what is needed to make it stop. Hate crimes are hate crimes.
It's easy to say that you should do "whatever it takes" to stop bullying. I was bullied as a child, and my parents sat me down every night and responded to each comment that I reported to them. If someone said I was ugly, they would point out the ways that I was pretty; if they made fun of my racial heritage, they taught me about my heritage so I could be proud of it, etc. Then, they would call the parents of the bullies, talk to the teacher, and talk to the principal if the bullying was at that point. It got so bad that they had me transferred mid-year, and shortly after, the group of bullies beat up a girl for calling them out.
My parents taught me to never fight back, but to walk away and find an adult; they taught me that they, as my parents, would protect me at all costs, and that as long as I was in a teacher's presence the bullies would have to leave me alone, or bully me in front of the teacher (thus landing themselves in trouble). My parents taught me that it gets better–and it did. The other girl who was physically harmed was taught to defend herself and others by standing up to bullies. Standing up to a bully doesn't work too well when you're alone in a bathroom and get your head bashed in on a sink, because there are five bullies and one of you. Standing up and fighting also doesn't work when you're the smallest person in your class (as I was). Seeking help from authority figures DOES work, and knowing that it gets better does get you through the depression of being bullied. But, I'm not gay, I was bullied because of my size, lack of discernible athletic ability, heritage, and overall nerdiness.
the IGB campaign is not telling kids to accept being bullied. Its telling kids that if they feel suicidal, they should hang in there, because they wont always feel like this. Its easy to feel like you'll feel this way forever when you're young. People who have been bullied and then grew up into adults know that it gets better, you wont feel this way anymore, you will have great people and things in your life -dont throw it all away.
interesting especially if the project is not personally helping or reaching an individual that is being bullied directly..
If you've seen the suicide rates amongst gay teens, it's surprising you would call the campaign BS.
I think every possible campaign should be out there to create hope for kids who feel there is none.
does charity begin at home?
it's hard to take this movement seriously especially when gay people discriminate in their adulthood...
i been bully ever since i stared school an aint nobody did nothing abt it an now i'm in the 9 grade they trying to hold me back because of the day's i miss half of thim day's i miss cause i just did't feel like goin to get bully can someone please help me i don't want to be back in the 9 grade again