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SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS ON THE MENTAL HEALTH OF HOMOSEXUALShave a negative impact on one’s mental health,whether they are homosexual or heterosexual.Not conforming to dominant gender roles andheterosexism can have a negative impact for allthose whom rebel, whether gay or straight.Furthermore, it is now apparent that thesepsychological stressors can result in majorhealth implications, including suicide.Psychological Stressors Contributing toSuicide Among HomosexualsSexual minority groups are exposed tostressors youth commonly experience as well asother categories of stressors related tostigmatization of their sexual orientation. Fearof the outcomes of sexual disclosure to familyand friends also has a negative impact on sexualminorities (Boxer et al., 1991). In a studyconducted by D’Augelli and Hashberger (1993),over half of the participants (all homosexuals)studied reported fear in disclosing their sexualorientation to their families, and about a quarterreported the prospect to be extremely troubling.Of those sexual minorities who disclosed theirsexual orientation to their families, eight percentof mothers were intolerant but not rejecting,while 12 percent were rejecting. Furthermore,20 percent of fathers were intolerant but notrejecting, while 18 percent were rejecting.Among sexual minorities, rejection by friendswas also found to be a major psychologicalstressor. Additionally, 33 percent of theparticipants studied feared losing friends upondisclosure, and 46 percent reported they had lostfriends when disclosing their sexual orientation.In another study, 41 percent of their sample wasfound to experience strong negative reactionsfrom members of their social group upondisclosing (Remafedi, 1987).Apart from psychological stressors ofsexual disclosure, it was found that sexualminority groups experience substantial verbaland physical abuse. In a study conducted byPilkinton and D’Augelli (1995), 80 percent ofthe sample experienced verbal insults based ontheir sexual orientation, 44 percent experiencedphysical threats, 33 percent had objects thrownat them with intent to injure, 31 percent hadbeen chased or followed, 13 percent reportedbeing spat on, 20 percent had been physicallyassaulted and 22 percent reported at least onesexual assault. These findings by Pilkinton andD’Augelli are consistent with other studiesinvestigating verbal and physical abuse tohomosexual individuals (Berrill, 1990; Deon,Wu and Martin, 1992; Gross, Aurand, andAdessa, 1998; Hunter, 1990).In a study conducted by Alexander(2005), the over representation of homosexualsin suicide attempt statistics were examined.Participants from 14 gay and lesbian youthgroups in metropolitan cities across the UnitedStates were recruited. The final sampleconsisted of 194 participants, 73 percent male,27 percent female, ranging from 15 to 20 yearsold with the average age being 18.86. There wasalso considerable variation among ethnic groupsin this study, 61 percent being Caucasian, 15percent African American, five percent AsianAmerican, five percent Hispanic American, andfour percent Native American.Via questionnaire analysis, the results ofthis study showed that 42 percent of the samplehad attempted suicide on at least one occasion,ranging from one to 15 attempts, methods ofwhich varied. Notably, no differences in menand women were found in attempts of suicide.Of the sample, 60 percent reported havingthoughts about killing themselves, while eightpercent reported having these thoughts often.However, males reported more dissatisfaction insexual activity, more depression, more anxietyand more worry about HIV/AIDS. From thoseparticipants who attempted suicide, they werefound to be more open to disclosing their sexualorientation, had greater numbers of same sexpartners, engaged in more social activities, hadmore lesbian/gay friends, and overall morepositive relations with their families.Furthermore, those that had attempted suicidehad parents whom were more acknowledging oftheir sexual orientation then those who had notattempted suicide. Thus this study suggests thatacceptance from one’s family has a lessimportant role, and that acceptance from one’speers and societal attitudes are instrumental in