title: Inclusive anti-bullying policies and reduced risk of suicide attempts in lesbian and gay youth.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate whether anti-bullying policies that are inclusive of sexual orientation are associated with a reduced prevalence of suicide attempts among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 31,852 11th-grade public school students (1,413 lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals; 4.4%) in Oregon completed the Oregon Healthy Teens survey in 2006-2008. The independent variable was the proportion of school districts in the 34 counties participating in the Oregon Healthy Teens survey that adopted anti-bullying policies inclusive of sexual orientation. The outcome measure was any self-reported suicide attempt in the past 12 months. We stratified results by sexual orientation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lesbian and gay youths living in counties with fewer school districts with inclusive anti-bullying policies were 2.25 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-4.49) more likely to have attempted suicide in the past year compared with those living in counties where more districts had these policies. Inclusive anti-bullying policies were significantly associated with a reduced risk for suicide attempts among lesbian and gay youths, even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics (sex, race/ethnicity) and exposure to peer victimization (odds ratio, .18; 95% CI, .03-.92). In contrast, anti-bullying policies that did not include sexual orientation were not associated with lower suicide attempts among lesbian and gay youths (odds ratio, .38; 95% CI, .02-7.33).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Inclusive anti-bullying policies may exert protective effects for the mental health of lesbian and gay youths, including reducing their risk for suicide attempts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. mlh2101@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hatzenbuehler
authors.forename: Katherine M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Keyes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D058445:Bullying / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009922:Oregon / Q000453:epidemiology; D011640:Public Policy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data