Same-Sex Marriage Laws Reduced Teen Suicides, Study Finds

Legalizing same-sex marriage led to significant reductions in the rate of teen suicide attempts in the United States, according to a new study.

Published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, the study examined suicide rates in states between 1999 and 2015, when 35 states legalized same-sex marriage, beginning with Massachusetts in 2004. It was written by author Julia Raifman, a postdoctoral fellow, a doctoral student, and S. Bryn Austin, a professor, all from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

In total, the researchers found that the passage of same-sex marriage was associated with the reduction of 134,000 suicide attempts a year.

On average, states that enacted same-sex marriage experienced a 7 percent drop in teen suicides attempts overall, and 14 percent fewer suicide attempts by gay, lesbian and bisexual teens. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among adolescents, and teenagers who are also sexual minorities are around five times more likely to take their own lives than others.

The authors argue the study shows the impact of public policy on personal choices.

"These are high school students so they aren't getting married anytime soon, for the most part," said Raifman. "Still, permitting same-sex marriage reduces structural stigma associated with sexual orientation. There may be something about having equal rights — even if they have no immediate plans to take advantage of them — that makes students feel less stigmatized and more hopeful for the future."

Though the study is only observational, its methodology is strong because it compared changes in the rate of suicide in states that legalized same-sex marriage to those that didn't. To make sure the connection wasn't spurious, the researchers also ran the data to see if they'd find a correlation between juice consumption habits and marriage laws, which are unlikely to be related. They found no such association, suggesting the study's methods are strong.

In an editorial accompanying the study's publication, Mark L. Hatzenbuehler, an associate professor in sociomedical sciences from Columbia University, noted that the study was methodologically strong and was a significant contribution to the existing literature.

"Although no single factor can fully explain a complex behavior such as suicide, the study by Raifman and colleagues suggests that structural stigma—in the form of state laws—represents a potentially consequential but thus far largely overlooked contextual factor underlying suicidality in [lesbian, gay and bisexual] youth," he wrote. "The legal climate surrounding this population therefore deserves greater attention among medical professionals dedicated to reducing sexual orientation disparities in suicidality among adolescents."

"It's not easy to be an adolescent, and for adolescents who are just realizing they are sexual minorities, it can be even harder — that's what the data on disparities affecting gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents tell us," Raifman says.

While the recent study only focused on same-sex marriage laws, which presumably reduce stigma felt by gay people and lesbians, Raifman argues that policies that increase stigma could have an opposite effect.

"We can all agree that reducing adolescent suicide attempts is a good thing, regardless of our political views," Raifman says. "Policymakers need to be aware that policies on sexual minority rights can have a real effect on the mental health of adolescents. The policies at the top can dictate in ways both positive and negative what happens further down."

Photo credit: bjaglin