How Gay Teens Benefit From Same-Sex Relationships

There are plenty of obvious political reasons to support the rights of gay teenagers to date who they want to date — whether that means attending their high school prom or just kicking around the local mall in peace. But a new study suggests there’s a psychological reason as well — for LGBT teens, being in a same-sex relationship can have vital mental health benefits.

It's no secret — and no wonder — that feeling like you've got to hide your sexuality can result in lowered self-esteem and internalized homophobia, both of which can contribute to anxiety and depression. The University of Michigan School of Public Health's Sexuality and Health Lab recently examined the long-term effects of relationships on these conditions, in teens who visited New York City LGBT centers. Results showed that for LGB kids, involvement in a same-sex relationship had a “protective effect,” which manifested differently for boys and for girls. For girls, it seems being in even just one same-sex relationship can reduce internalized homophobia, while for boys, a same-sex relationship raises self-esteem, as long as the relationship is prolonged.

Of course, any relationship can have important stabilizing effects on a teenager’s state of mind. To wit, the study found that friendship also provided a “protective effect.” But what’s interesting is that the benefits of partner-bonding alone can’t account for the positive effects on mental health that correlated to a same-sex relationship: for these LGB teens, being in an opposite-sex relationship had little effect at all on self-esteem and other issues.

This is important scientific evidence for what most of us probably get instinctively: that feeling comfortable and true to yourself in a relationship can have a huge impact on how stable and supported you feel in other areas of your life. Dating relationships, after all, are crucial to how teens develop and express their identities. So, in addition to calling in the ACLU, when necessary, and making sure gay relationships are well represented in the pop culture teens are apt to consume, it's just as important to teen mental health that we make sure they have supportive places to talk about their relationships, be those same-sex or otherwise. Now that the science says so, let's make sure schools follow through.

Photo credit: dave_mcmt