BLOG SOUP-That’s the conclusion of a new study that compares death rates with Americans’ attitudes toward gay rights.
There’s a price to be paid for homophobia, and it’s a steep one: Approximately two and one-half years off of your life.
That’s the conclusion of a provocative new research paper, which examines the social attitudes and death rates of a large, representative sample of Americans over two recent decades.
“We found evidence that anti-gay prejudice is associated with elevated mortality risk among heterosexuals, over and above multiple established risk factors,” writes a research team led by Mark Hatzenbuehler of Columbia University. “In particular, there was a 2.5-year life expectancy difference between individuals with high vs. low levels of anti-gay prejudice.”
The cause, the researchers write in the American Journal of Public Health, may be homophobes’ higher stress levels. It appears all that intense discomfort takes a physical toll. (Read the rest … including what science suggests as a cause … here.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 15
Pub: Feb 21, 2014