Dulai, Joshun. (2014, October). Suicide Among Gay and Bisexual Men: A Syndemic Theory Approach. Presented at the Gay Men’s Health Summit, Vancouver, Canada.

Several studies have demonstrated that gay and bisexual men are at increased risk of suicidal behaviours but less attention has been given to the processes that contribute to this inequity. One theory that may be able to explain this phenomenon is syndemics, which posits that health problems tend to co-occur, overlap and fuel each other and create a mutually reinforcing cluster of epidemics. Most research on syndemic theory and gay and bisexual men have focused on HIV as an outcome variable, but our study is only one of a few that focuses on suicide as a product of syndemics.

Looking at participants from the 2011 Sex Now Survey we found that suicidality (suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts) was positively associated with individual marginalization indicators (verbal violence, physical violence, sexual violence, bullying, and work-place discrimination) and psychosocial issues (substance use, depression, anxiety, diagnosis of an STI or with HIV, and condomless sex) in Canadian gay and bisexual men. Furthermore the prevalence of suicidality cumulatively increased with each additional form of marginalization or psychosocial issue experienced by individuals. Our investigation suggests that syndemic is a useful framework for studying suicide in gay and bisexual men and should inform suicide prevention services in the country.

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