Jordyn Chapman: Same-sex Marriage Laws Linked to Fewer Youth Suicide Attempts

Summary: State legalization of same-sex marriage appears to be linked to a decrease in adolescent suicide, based on a new analysis published today in JAMA Pediatrics. The results give more context to the potential effects of social policy on mental health. In legalizing same sex marriages, it was seen that 7 percent of suicide decreased and it doubled when looking at concentrations within high school students. This is actually much more of an advancement than it sounds because of teens in the LGBTQ community who are four times more likely to attempt suicide, according to the Trevor Project. This new research “helps us better understand why we might see elevated rates of suicide attempts among LGBT adolescents,” Julia Raifman, the study leader and a postdoctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said. While the study drew a correlation between lower suicide rates and same-sex marriage legalization, it did not explain a potential cause for the lowered rates. It is possible that the laws “communicated to young LGB populations that they were equal, and that improved their mental health,” Raifman said. It’s also possible that increased visibility for same-sex marriage, both in politics and media coverage, increased LGB adolescents’ sense of social support, she said.
Analysis: This article was created by Corinne Segal on February 20, 2017. I knew previously about some social effects of the same-sex marriage law, but didn't know the extent of that effect towards suicide rates. This was not only written for those directly affected but also those indirectly impacted. This article is important because it helps us become more aware of the influence that politics have on social and mental health issues.
Synthesis- There are various relationships that happen in effect of political, social, and economic change. In the same way as the same sex marriage laws, there was a relationship between urbanization in America and the crime rate.
Article: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/same-sex-marriage-fewer-youth-suicide/