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Yasuharu Hidaka, MS

Poster presented at 129th Annual Meeting of American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta, Oct/22/2001. Mental health and school-based verbal abuse

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Yasuharu Hidaka, MS

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  1. Poster presented at 129th Annual Meeting of American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta, Oct/22/2001 Mental health and school-based verbal abuse among Japanese gay and bisexual men Yasuharu Hidaka, MS Department of Global Health and Socio-epidemiology Kyoto University School of Public Health Yasuharu HIDAKA

  2. Background Almost no studies addresses school-based harassment and verbal abuse among Japanese gay and bisexual men (JGB).Japanese researchers and practitioners have not been able to know the incidents of harassment and verbal abuse at schools, and develop mental health prevention interventions to mitigate these problems. Several U.S. studies indicated that gay, bisexual, and other sexual minorities tend to become the target for violence and verbal abuse at schools, and have mental health problems at higher rate compared to heterosexual population. [Internet use rate among JGB] According to previous JGB gay venue sex survey, 61% of participants were using the internet, and a snow-ball sex survey indicated 80.6% of participants were internet users.

  3. Purpose of the study The purpose of this study is to understand 1) the circumstances of harassment and verbal abuse at schools, 2) current mental health, and 3) the relationship between experiences of harassment and verbal abuse and current mental health among Japanese gay and bisexual men (JGB). 1. To contribute to bring this issue to recognition 2. To contribute to plan the effective prevention intervention programs for this issue 3. To contribute to the change of JGB social status Yasuharu HIDAKA

  4. Procedures of sampling method Data collection: July 24, 1999 through September 30, 1999 Settlement of the questionnaire on the World Wide Web Establishment of firewall for protection from hacker and/or clacker Use of Japanese gay slang as markers to identify participants Programming cookie to prevent double count by the same participant Searching IP addresses for double count by the same participant Yasuharu HIDAKA

  5. Questionnaire on the World Wide Web (WWW) Yasuharu HIDAKA

  6. Psychological inventory Heterosexual role conflict (alpha =.8881) SDS Depression (alpha =.8358) STAI Anxiety (alpha =.9132) Rosenberg Self-esteem (alpha =.7104) Revised UCLA Loneliness (alpha =.9185) Self-restraint personality scale (alpha =.7612) Yasuharu HIDAKA

  7. Heterosexual role conflict scale 1) When I feel pressure to get married 2) When my parents say they want to see grandchildren 3) When I am asked why I don’t have a girlfriend and I make excuses 4) When my heterosexual friends laugh at negative characters of gays on television and I join in 5) When I have a boyfriend, but refer to him as a girlfriend when talking about him to my heterosexual friends 6) When I see an attractive man but cannot make comments about him in front of my heterosexual friends 7) When I cannot speak casually to my heterosexual friends about my gay friends 8) When I go to a restaurant with my boyfriend and feel like people are staring at us 9) When I cannot buy gay magazines openly 10) When I hear that men should be emotionally strong 11) When I lower my voice to sound more masculine 12) When I am around girls and people comment that I have “flowers in both hands” (a slang for being popular with girls) 13) When a woman says she is attracted to me and I lie or change the subject 14) When I am not interested in women but say things to make it sound like I am 15) When my co-workers invite me to an establishment where women provide services (sex and/or drinks) 1.never ---- 5.always Yasuharu HIDAKA

  8. Heterosexual role conflict scale This scale measures the role conflicts which occur when Japanese gay and bisexual men act as heterosexuals in the society. The scale was developed by conducting interviews and 2 pilot surveys. 15 questions ask about situations to measure frequencies that participants feel the conflicts as they act as heterosexuals. (Likert, 4 points) 6 factors by Principal factor analysis, Eigenvalue over 1.0, Varimax lotation 1.marriage2.fitting into the heterosexual society 3.friendships among gay/bisexual men4.male partner 5.traditional gender role6.female partner Yasuharu HIDAKA

  9. Demographics of the participants 40-65 n=66 • Number of participants 1,025 • Average age 27.5 yrs. (14ー65) • Housing: live with parents 42.5% alone 42.4% • Occupation: full time worker 49.9%student 29.0% • Education: university graduated 65.0% • Ever had sexual experience with men 81.1% • Self-identified sexual orientation: Gay 67.9%Bisexual 18.5% Don’t want to decide 7.7% Not sure 5.2% 14-19n=92 30-39n=262 20-29n=600 Age of participants Yasuharu HIDAKA

  10. Information learned about homosexuality at schools in the past (multiple answers) 723 Not at all 71％ 12.9％ Negative information 131 Inappropriate information 91.2% Homosexuality as abnormal 7.3％ 74 7.9％ Positive information 80 1.1％ Others 11 0 250 500 750 Number of responses

  11. Experience of being harassed/verbally abused 69.7％ Seen the situation of verbal abuse with sexuality related terms eg. “queer”, “fagot” 82.7％ General harassment experience 59.6％ Verbally abused experience, teased by sexuality related terms eg. “queer”, “fagot” Number of responses Yasuharu HIDAKA

  12. Coming out to parents Coming out to parents 6.7％ 69 Coming out to mother only 4.8％ 49 0.3％ Coming out to father only 3 0 20 40 60 80 Number of participants Yasuharu HIDAKA

  13. Coming out to others except parents N= N= Only one Over 10 6～9 N= 2～3 4～5 N= N= Yasuharu HIDAKA

  14. Heterosexual role conflict and Depression (SDS) ** Depression score Oneway ANOVA 44 42.9 42 39.66 40 37.29 38 low medium high 36 34 Hetero sexual role conflict ** p<0.01 medium high low Yasuharu HIDAKA

  15. Heterosexual role conflict and Self-esteem Oneway ANOVA Self-esteem score ** 35 34.34 34 33 32.12 32 31.2 31 30 low medium high 29 28 Hetero sexual role conflict ** p<0.01 medium low high Yasuharu HIDAKA

  16. Heterosexual role conflict and Anxiety (STAI) Oneway ANOVA Anxiety score ** 60 53.84 55 49.22 50 44.47 45 40 low medium high 35 30 Hetero sexual role conflict ** p<0.01 medium high low Yasuharu HIDAKA

  17. Heterosexual role conflict and Loneliness Oneway ANOVA Loneliness score ** 50 47.98 48 46 43.58 44 42 40.04 40 low medium high 38 36 Hetero sexual role conflict ** p<0.01 medium low high Yasuharu HIDAKA

  18. Anxiety (STAI cut off point =44) 68.4％ had anxiety symptom Number of participants point Yasuharu HIDAKA

  19. Correlations mental health among JGB Verbal abused Experience, “queer”, “fagot” r=.181 ** ** Heterosexual role conflict r=.294 Depression ** .116 ** r=.392 Anxiety ** ** r=.329 .588 Self restraint personality ** r=.-212 ** .150 Self-esteem General harassment experience ** ** r=.188 r=.317 Loneliness ** p< 0.01 Yasuharu HIDAKA

  20. Positive effect (standardized partial regression coefficient β) Negative effect (standardized partial regression coefficient β) correlation Path diagram of mental health among Japanese gay and bisexual men R2 =.109 .303** -.265** -.136** Self restraint personality Self-esteem .291** -.290** -.133** .116** R2 =.637 R2 =.567 R2 =.113 .121** .600** Verbal abuse experienced Heterosexual Role Conflict Anxiety Depression .144** .195** R2 =.160 .109** .319** .166** Loneliness .261** ** p<0.01 Yasuharu HIDAKA

  21. Discussion Findings of the study predicted that there are existence of sexuality issues behind the harassment and verbal abuse and lack of information on homosexuality in Japanese schools. Path diagram showed mental conflicts by verbally abused experiences and acting as heterosexuals in society seems to predict the negative influence to the gay and bisexual mens’ mental health. In junior high and high schools, lessons about sexuality and positive or neutral information about homosexuality are needed. For findings are limited to JGB whom have access to the internet that the results can’t be generalized. However, this study showed the possibilities of a quantitative method targeting hard-to-reach sexual minorities.

  22. For more information Yasuharu Hidaka, MS Department of Global health, School of Public Health, Kyoto University Yoshida-konoe, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan TEL: 81-75-753-4350 FAX:81-75-753-4359 E-mail : yass@kta.att.ne.jp

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