Mental Disorder, Subsistence Strategies, and Victimization among Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Homeless and Runaway Adolescents

Authors

Les B. Whitbeck, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Xiaojin Chen, Tulane UniversityFollow
Dan R. Hoyt, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Kimberly A. Tyler, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Kurt D. Johnson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

11-2004

Comments

Published in Journal of Sex Research, 41:4 (November 2004), pp. 329–342. Copyright © 2004 Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality; published by Routledge/Taylor & Francis, Inc. Used by permission.

Abstract

This study compares participation in deviant subsistence strategies, street victimization, and lifetime prevalence of five mental disorders (conduct disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse) among heterosexual males and females (n = 366) and gay, lesbian, and bisexual (n = 63) homeless and runaway adolescents from the first wave of a longitudinal study of homeless youth in four Midwestern states. The results indicate that gay, lesbian, and bi¬sexual adolescents were more likely to have been physically and sexually abused by caretakers, were more likely to engage in risky survival strategies when on their own (including survival sex), were more likely to be physically and sexually victimized when on the streets, and were more likely to meet criteria for mental disorder than were their heterosexual counterparts.