Bisexuality Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Bisexuality, including details on male and female, statistics, trends, psychology.

Connecting the invisible dots: Reaching lesbian, gay, and bisexual adolescents and young adults at risk for suicide through online social networks.

Silenzio VM, Duberstein PR, Tang W, Lu N, Tu X, Homan CM

University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States.

Young lesbian, gay, and bisexual (young LGB) individuals report higher rates of suicide ideation and attempts from their late teens through early twenties. Their high rate of Internet use suggests that online social networks offer a novel opportunity to reach them. This study explores online social networks as a venue for prevention research targeting young LGB. An automated data collection program was used to map the social connections between LGB self-identified individuals between 16 and 24 years old participating in an online social network. We then completed a descriptive analysis of the structural characteristics known to affect diffusion within such networks. Finally, we conducted Monte Carlo simulations of peer-driven diffusion of a hypothetical preventive intervention within the observed network under varying starting conditions. We mapped a network of 100,014 young LGB. The mean age was 20.4 years. The mean nodal degree was 137.5, representing an exponential degree distribution ranging from 1 through 4309. Monte Carlo simulations revealed that a peer-driven preventive intervention ultimately reached final sample sizes of up to 18,409 individuals. The network's structure is consistent with other social networks in terms of the underlying degree distribution. Such networks are typically formed dynamically through a process of preferential attachment. This implies that some individuals could be more important to target to facilitate the diffusion of interventions. However, in terms of determining the success of an intervention targeting this population, our simulation results suggest that varying the number of peers that can be recruited is more important than increasing the number of randomly-selected starting individuals. This has implications for intervention design. Given the potential to access this previously isolated population, this novel approach represents a promising new frontier in suicide prevention and other research areas.

Published 22 June 2009 in Soc Sci Med.
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Articles on Bisexuality published 22 June 2009:

Bridging Sexual Boundaries: Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women in a Street-Based Sample in Los Angeles.   J Urban Health.

The purpose of the study was to determine the potential contribution of bisexual men to the spread of HIV in Los Angeles. We compare the characteristics and behaviors of men who have sex with men and women (MSMW) to men who have sex with only women (MSW) and men who have sex with only men (MSM) in Los Angeles. Men (N = 1,125) who participated in one of the two waves of data collection from 2005 to 2007 at the Los Angeles site for NIDA's Sexual Acquisition and Transmission of HIV-Cooperative ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Bisexuality published 17 June 2009:

Policy Aspects and Nursing Care of Families With Parents Who Are Sexual Minorities.   J Fam Nurs.

Families in which parents are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender are more diverse than they are similar. This article reviews current literature to identify fundamental issues facing families that include sexual minority parents and their children. The unique nursing needs of families with gay, lesbian, trans-gender, or bisexual parents are critically examined for direct relevance to family nursing practice. Nurses and other health care professionals can incorporate current knowledge of ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Bisexuality published 12 June 2009:

Smoking-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in the lesbian, gay and bisexual community: a population-based study from the U.S. Pacific Northwest.   Prev Med, 48(6): 555-61.

OBJECTIVE: Several studies have shown that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) persons have higher smoking prevalence than heterosexuals. However, few population-based studies have explored whether smoking-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors also differ between the communities. METHODS: We used Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data for 2003 to 2005 from two states (Washington and Oregon) to compare smoking-related indicators between the self-identified LGB population and their ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

The health, social care and housing needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender older people: a review of the literature.   Health Soc Care Community.

Abstract This paper reports the findings of a literature review of the health, social care and housing needs of older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adults undertaken in 2006 for the Welsh Assembly Government. Peer-reviewed literature was identified through database searches of BNI, PubMed, CINAHL, DARE, ASSIA and PsychInfo. Follow-up searches were conducted using references to key papers and journals as well as specific authors who had published key papers. A total of 187 papers ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Bisexuality published 11 June 2009:

Group unity of chimpanzees elucidated by comparison of sex differences in short-range interactions in Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania.   Primates.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) form multi-male and multi-female unit groups with fission-fusion grouping patterns. Short-range interaction (SRI) plays an important role in the unity of these groups and in maintaining social bonds among members. This study evaluated three models of chimpanzee social structure that differed according to the emphasis each placed on social bonds between the sexes, i.e., the male-only, the bisexual, and the male-bonded unit-group model. I investigated differences in ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Bisexuality published 10 June 2009:

Behaviorally Bisexual Men and their Risk Behaviors with Men and Women.   J Urban Health.

Gay and bisexual men are often treated as a homogenous group; however, there may be important differences between them. In addition, behaviorally bisexual men are a potential source of HIV infection for heterosexual women. In this study, we compared 97 men who have sex with men only (MSM) to 175 men who have sex with men and women (MSMW). We also compared the 175 MSMW to 772 men who have sex with women only (MSW). Bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to assess ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Transactional Sex among Men and Women in the South at High Risk for HIV and Other STIs.   J Urban Health.

Transactional sex refers to selling sex (exchanging sex for money, drugs, food, shelter, or other items) or purchasing sex (exchanging money, drugs, food, shelter, or other items for sex). These activities have been associated with a higher risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in a variety of populations and settings. This paper examines correlates of purchasing and selling sex in a large sample of drug users, men who have sex with men, and sex partners of these groups. Using ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Youth's Experiences with STI Testing in Four Communities in British Columbia, Canada.   Sex Transm Infect.

OBJECTIVES: To analyse the experiences of youth accessing STI services and to examine the perspectives of service providers in four BC communities. METHODS: In-depth qualitative interviews were completed with 70 young men and women (15-24 years). Twenty-two service providers (e.g., clinicians; staff) were interviewed about their experiences providing STI testing services as well as the policies and practice guidelines that inform their work with youth. In addition, naturalistic observation was ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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