Table 2.
Mental health outcomes by sexual orientation (n=15,197) in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, 2001–2002
| Heterosexual | Gay/Lesbian | Bisexual | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binary Outcomes | % | (SE) | % | (SE) | % | (SE) |
| Suicidality | 5.4 | (0.3) | 15.5 | (3.0) | 17.7 | (3.5) |
| Binge Drinking1 | 34.2 | (1.1) | 48.4 | (5.2) | 41.8 | (5.0) |
| Illicit Drug Use | 11.8 | (0.6) | 29.9 | (5.1) | 28.2 | (4.0) |
| Continuous Outcomes (log-transformed)2 |
M | (SE) | M | (SE) | M | (SE) |
| Depressive Symptoms | 0.8 | (0.02) | 1.1 | (0.12) | 1.5 | (0.10) |
| Tobacco Use3 | 0.3 | (0.09) | 0.9 | (0.34) | 1.5 | (0.38) |
| Alcohol Abuse Symptoms | −0.5 | (0.05) | 0.2 | (0.17) | 0.04 | (0.18) |
| Drug Abuse Symptoms | −1.9 | (0.02) | −1.8 | (0.11) | −1.5 | (0.13) |
1
Binge drinking defined whether the respondent had more than 5 drinks (males) or 4 drinks (females) in one setting over the past year.
2
Respondents who reported 0 symptoms were assigned a value of 0.1 and therefore have a negative value for this outcome after log transformation. For some outcomes, the mean level is negative (e.g., alcohol abuse symptoms for heterosexuals), because the majority of that group reported no symptoms.
3
Tobacco use defined as the number of days out of the past 30 days that the respondent smoked multiplied by the number of cigarettes smoked on those days.