Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jul 2:15:597.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-1961-5.

Suicide related ideation and behavior among Canadian gay and bisexual men: a syndemic analysis

Olivier Ferlatte  1   2 , Joshun Dulai  3 , Travis Salway Hottes  4   5 , Terry Trussler  6 , Rick Marchand  7
Affiliations

Suicide related ideation and behavior among Canadian gay and bisexual men: a syndemic analysis

Olivier Ferlatte et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: While several studies have demonstrated that gay and bisexual men are at increased risk of suicide less attention has been given to the processes that generate the inherent inequity with the mainstream population. This study tested whether syndemic theory can explain the excess suicide burden in a sample of Canadian gay and bisexual men. Syndemic theory accounts for co-occurring and mutually reinforcing epidemics suffered by vulnerable groups due to the effects of social marginalization.

Methods: This study used data from Sex Now 2011, a cross-sectional survey of Canadian gay and bisexual men (n = 8382). The analysis measured the extent to which anti-gay marginalization and several psychosocial health problems are associated with suicide related ideation and attempts. Since psychosocial health problems were hypothesized to have an additive effect on suicide related ideation and attempts, the analysis calculated the effect of accumulated psychosocial health problems on suicide behavior.

Results: Suicide ideation and attempts were positively associated with each individual marginalization indicator (verbal violence, physical violence, bullying, sexual violence and work discrimination) and psychosocial health problems (smoking, party drugs, depression, anxiety, STIs, HIV risk and HIV). Furthermore, prevalence of suicide ideation and attempts increased with each added psychosocial health problem. Those who reported 3 or more had 6.90 (5.47-8.70) times the odds of experiencing suicide ideation and 16.29 (9.82-27.02) times the odds of a suicide attempt compared to those with no psychosocial health problems.

Conclusions: This investigation suggests that syndemics is a useful theory for studying suicide behavior among gay and bisexual men. Moreover, the findings highlight a need to address gay and bisexual men's health problems holistically and the urgent need to reduce this population's experience with marginalization and violence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Conceptual Framework of Suicide Risk within Syndemic Production
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Prevalence of suicide related ideation or attempts by number of anti-gay marginalization indicators
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. King M, Semlyen J, Tai S, Killaspy H, Osborn D, Popelyuk D, et al. A systematic review of mental disorder, suicide, and deliberate self harm in lesbian, gay and bisexual people. BMC Psychiatry. 2008;8(1):70. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-8-70. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Haas AP, Eliason M, Mays VM, Mathy RM, Cochran SD, D’Augelli AR, et al. Suicide and Suicide Risk in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Populations: review and Recommendations. J Homosex. 2010;58(1):10–51. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2011.534038. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Joiner T. Why People die by Suicide. Cambridge: Havard University Press; 2005.
    1. Mann JJ, Waternaux C, Haas GL, Malone KM. Toward a clinical model of suicidal behavior in psychiatric patients. Am J Psychiatry. 1999;156(2):181–9. - PubMed
    1. Plöderl M, Sellmeier M, Fartacek C, Pichler E-M, Fartacek R, Kralovec K. Explaining the Suicide Risk of Sexual Minority Individuals by Contrasting the Minority Stress Model with Suicide Models. Arch Sex Behav. 2014;43(8):1559–70. doi: 10.1007/s10508-014-0268-4. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms