[Homosexuality and psychiatric disorders: correlation not shown].
A secondary analysis of part of the data collected for the Netherlands mental-health survey and incidence study, revealed that homosexual men and women have a higher chance of psychiatric disorders than heterosexuals. However, there are some serious doubts about the reliability and validity of these results. These concern the validity of the measuring instrument used for homosexual populations (the Composite International Diagnostic Interview), the representativeness of the sample of homosexuals participating in the study, and the statistical analysis of the raw data. In discussing their analysis, the authors pay too little attention to methodological flaws, which might explain their findings. In general, they seem to underestimate the methodological and ethical complications associated with this type of comparative research. Therefore, the study offers no hard scientific evidence to support the contention that homosexuals show a much higher rate of psychiatric disorders in comparison to heterosexuals.
Schippers
J
J
Ziekenhuis Leyenburg, polikliniek Medische Seksuologie, Postbus 40.551, 2504 LN Den Haag.
D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design