Gay young adults who were rejected by their families when they came out as teenagers are much more likely to attempt suicide, have unprotected sex, and have problems with drug use and depression, according to a new study. The findings are based on surveys of 224 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender adults in California who ranged in age from 21 to 25. Gay Latinos were most likely to experience a poor reception from their parents, and had the highest rates of risk factors for HIV and mental health problems, according to the research [Scientific American].
The findings, published in the journal Pediatrics [subscription required], don’t prove that a family’s negative reaction to a child’s sexuality directly causes problems later in life. But it’s clear that “there’s a connection between how families treat gay and lesbian children and their mental and physical health” [HealthDay News] said social worker Caitlin Ryan, the study’s lead author. She found that teenagers who were rejected by their families were eight times as likely to attempt suicide, six times as likely to report serious depression, and three times as likely to have unprotected sex and use drugs.

Male-to-female transsexuals are more likely to have a genetic variant that may cause weaker testosterone signals in the brain during early development, according to a new study. Researchers say the finding is another piece of evidence that there is a genetic component to these men’s strong feelings that they’re really women who were born into the wrong body, a theory many experts have long endorsed based on anecdotal evidence. “People who come to our clinic describe how they knew they were different at a very early age, just three or four years old. This is something that people are born with,” Dr [Trudy] Kennedy said [
A small study has found that the brains of
It seems that the long debate over whether boys are naturally better at 