Study Blows Hole In Claim Bullying Drives LGBT Mental Health Problems

A new study in Psychological Medicine concludes that the reason homosexuals have more mental health issues than heterosexuals is far more likely to be the result of familial issues than minority stress.

The systematic multilevel meta-analysis, published by Cambridge University Press on Monday, suggests that two-thirds of the discrepancy in mental illness between heterosexuals and non-heterosexuals disappears when shared environmental and genetic factors are accounted for.

“A large proportion of the disparities is attributable to factors shared by both non-heterosexual and heterosexual persons who are genetically related and reared together,” the study says, adding that such factors “reflect genetic or shared environmental factors present in the families of non-heterosexual persons and also affecting heterosexual members.”

This figure clearly shows the results. The bar for “Population” shows the effect size difference between non-heterosexuals and heterosexual non-relatives. The other two bars show the difference for family members. See how they rapidly drop off. (10/n)

(10/n) pic.twitter.com/hUYrdTyUOy

— Michael Bailey (@profjmb) August 11, 2026

One of the study’s authors and a professor in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University, Michael Bailey, said that the study challenges the Sexual Minority Stress Theory (SMST), which suggests that the increased depression, anxiety and suicidality that homosexuals face are the result of the group being mistreated.

He said that one 2003 study pointed to SMST, which has been cited 20,000 times, and that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has also funded research into the theory to explain the larger mental health gap between heterosexuals and transgender youth. SMST has been the dominant theory for 30 years, Bailey said. (Read more from “Study Blows Hole In Claim Bullying Drives LGBT Mental Health Problems” HERE)