Hate Kills: How Homophobia Takes Years Off Your Life

[LongTomH]

There’s a price to be paid for homophobia, and it’s a steep one: Approximately two and one-half years off of your life.

That’s the conclusion of a provocative new research paper, which examines the social attitudes and death rates of a large, representative sample of Americans over two recent decades.

“We found evidence that anti-gay prejudice is associated with elevated mortality risk among heterosexuals, over and above multiple established risk factors,” writes a research team led by Mark Hatzenbuehler of Columbia University. “In particular, there was a 2.5-year life expectancy difference between individuals with high vs. low levels of anti-gay prejudice.”

The cause, the researchers write in the American Journal of Public Health, may be homophobes’ higher stress levels. It appears all that intense discomfort takes a physical toll.

More here: http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/hate-kills-how-homophobia-takes-years-your-life

[RKP5637]

1. Just going to see their maker earlier, ha, but ended up at the gates of hell, being told

they were never christians.

[mainer]

2. I don't see that they controlled for region of residence

Since the higher risk of death they cite is primarily cardiovascular, I wonder if this is a reflection of higher risk men living in the Bible belt southern states, where they'd also be more conservative. People in the Bible belt tend to be more obese, and therefore more susceptible to cardiovascular deaths.

[Quantess]

3. Hate is bad for the heart. This is not rocket science, Sherlock.

[awoke_in_2003]

4. Indeed...

really, who has time for hate?

[Thor_MN]

5. How did they control for the dumbass effect?

People stupid enough to hate are stupid enough to do stupid things.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. This may make me a bad person, but I don't give a shit!

They chose hate! I didn't choose to be gay! Apparently from the same study, but not in this article....

Top University Study: Anti-Gay Prejudice Is Killing Gay People

study just released by Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health finds that gay people living in communities entrenched with high levels of anti-gay bigotry, prejudice, and hate, are expected to die 12 years earlier than their peers living in more progressive and accepting environments.

“Shorter life expectancy of 12 years on average for LGB individuals in communities with high vs. low stigma,” a statement on the study reads.

---snip---

“In order to examine the relationship between prejudice and mortality, the researchers constructed a measure capturing the average level of anti-gay prejudice in the communities where LGB individuals lived… This information on sexual orientation and community-level prejudice was then linked longitudinally to mortality data via the National Death Index, through 2008. Thus, the authors were able to examine whether mortality risk differed for LGB individuals who lived in communities that were characterized by high versus low levels of prejudice. By the end of the study, 92% of LGB respondents living in low-prejudice communities were still alive; in contrast, only 78% of the LGB respondents living in high-prejudice communities were still alive.” [Bolding ours]


http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/top-university-study-anti-gay-prejudice-is-killing-gay-people/discrimination/2014/02/17/83300#.UwhSgdTna70