In the 1990s, Pablo – a high school student in a Roman Catholic school in Cotabato City in Mindanao – used to carry a bottle of muriatic acid when he went to school. The trigger for him was an earlier bullying that, even when allegedly reported to school authorities, left unresolved.
“I felt I had to have a way to protect myself,” he said years later, when he was already working as a nurse overseas. And though he knew “throwing muriatic acid on people seemed extreme”, but for a young gay boy at that time, he said he didn’t really know what steps he could take. “No one seemed (eager to protect me); I had to take matters in my own hands.”
Pablo never had to use the muriatic acid; in fact, that need to have a bottle in his bag eventually waned. But what he did (i.e. carrying a tool for self-protection) was – for a while – never really closely considered in studies; at least until a new study that appears in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.
Prior research has revealed sexual minority youth (lesbian, gay, bisexual) are more likely to carry weapons both outside of and within school, this study noted. However, no study has really examined the degree to which bullying and harassment is associated with weapon carrying among this group.
And – perhaps as expected – the study found youth who report carrying a weapon have higher odds of experiencing bullying and bullying-related victimization. Minoritized student populations, especially sexual minority youth disproportionately experience bullying and bullying victimization.
“Pediatricians should recognize that experiencing bullying and feeling unsafe are associated with weapon carrying, particularly among sexual minorities,” said corresponding author Carl Streed, Jr., MD, MPH, FACP, assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM).
The researchers used the Youth Risk Behavior Survey to examine the prevalence and likelihood of carrying weapons by sexual identity, examining self-report of adverse experiences (being bullied, skipping school due to fear for personal safety) and performing analysis to estimate the odds of carrying a weapon. When surveyed by sexual identity, 14% of heterosexual, 21.8% of gay/lesbian,18.5% of bisexual and 17.4% of “not sure” students reported carrying a weapon in the past 30 days.
The odds of carrying a weapon were significantly increased for youth who skipped school due to feeling unsafe at school, had ever been threatened with a weapon in the past year and had ever been in a physical fight.
Compared to heterosexual female peers, sexual minority women had increased odds of carrying a weapon.
“Pediatricians and professionals who work with youth should recognize that reported experiences of bullying may not be the most salient indicator of risk for weapon carrying among all youth, and that other fears of or experiences with bullying are crucial to screen for among sexual minorities in particular,” added Streed, who also is a primary care physician and research lead in the Center for Transgender Medicine & Surgery at Boston Medical Center.
According to the researchers, this work is critical in the current political climate that is witnessing an erosion of LGBTQIA acceptance and is leading to a potential increase in minority stress through the bullying of certain youth populations, particularly sexual minority youth.
