Bisexual people have lower life satisfaction, study shows
A recent study focusing on the ālife satisfactionā of sexual minorities discovered that bisexual people have a lower life satisfaction than most.
The study ā run by the London School of Economics and the University of Melbourne ā analysed two data sets of over 45,000 people ā covering different ages, backgrounds and sexual orientations from the UK and Australia.
Professor Nick Powdthavee ā from LSEās Centre for Economic Performance ā told PinkNews: āThis is one of the first times when weāve managed to get data on sexual orientations of people in the UK and Australia as a national representative stat.
āWe know relatively little about the life satisfaction of LGBT folk and people who prefer not to identify their sexual orientation.ā He added.
According to the study, 1.8% of Australians aged 16-85 identify as LGBT whilst in the UK it ranges between 1.5-1.6% (as reported by UK ONS in 2012).
By looking at factors ā such as income, employment, health, marriage, children, friendship networks and education ā results of the study stated: āLesbian, gay and bisexual persons are found to be significantly less satisfied with their lives than otherwise comparable heterosexual persons.ā
The data was collated in 2012 before same-sex marriage was legalised in the UK.
Professor Powdthavee commented on how the life satisfaction difference between heterosexual and LGBT people wouldāve been affected by this:
āI would assume that the gap would be closed some what due to the introduction of gay marriage.ā
On the subject of legalising same-sex marriage in Australia, he also added: āThis is a case for gay marriage in Australia, if we go by the idea that married people on average have a better life.ā
Tony Abbott, the Australian PM, has previously threatened to fire people who support same-sex marriage.
One of the glaring results was that generally bisexuals in both the UK and Australia were least satisfied with life.
In regards to mental health, many studies have shown that LGBT people are going to be at a higher risk than theyāre heterosexual counterparts.
Researchers support this, saying: āprevious studies show that the risks of depression and anxiety disorders, and of alcohol and substance dependence, are at least 1.5 times higher within LBGT populations, and suicide attempts around twice as likely, than in heterosexual populations.ā
Differences in results also stemmed from age ā not just sexuality.
According to the results, older members of the LGBT community had a higher life satisfaction. The paper implies that they face lesser degrees of hardships or that they āhave had more time to learn to cope with and adjust to any stigma and discrimination associated with their sexual identity.ā
The latter of these theories might not be accurate ā as the paper also suggests that the older LGBT cohorts may be more likely to misreport their sexual identity.
Social stigma has apparently dropped for many of the older LGBT community ā so much so that, in Australia, the findings have rated it as āmarkedly low to the point of largely absentā.
Some factors that werenāt discussed in detail in the paper were factors such as religious activity. According to to the study: āreligious activity (as measured by church attendance) has been found to be positively associated with measures of life satisfactionā.
However it notes that in many areas it could be negatively associated with sexual minority status.
A recent UK survey found that almost half of young people in the UK would not define themselves as ā100% straightā.
YouGov asked 1632 people to plot themselves on a Kinsey scale of sexuality, from 0 (exclusively heterosexual) to 6 (exclusively homosexual).
Results showed that just 46% of young people would rank themselves as 0 (exclusively heterosexual) ā compared to 49% who picked something else.
