Re: Study: Openly Gay Men Less Likely to Be Depressed Than Heterosexuals
OK, so, as a scientist, I'm going to weigh in a bit more on this. You have to be very deliberate when reading scientific studies. The careless way the media represents them annoys me to no end.
1. Yes, it is generalized. All scientific studies of human beings have to be, because they sample a population and describe the average behavior and distribution.
2. Just because your own personal observations do not match that found by a scientific study does not make the study suspect. This study is comparing two AVERAGE behaviors. It does not mean that ALL gay men are happier than ALL straight men. There are two distributions, and the average of the gay one was higher than the straight one in this study.
3. The study only sampled people in their early and mid 20s. Given that it was conducted at a university, it is a safe bet that these were college students. Also, if you go to the original study, it shows the authors were all based in Montreal, Canada. Therefore, the findings of this study are also likely limited to college students in a large, liberal metropolitan area.
Taken together, what this means is that the study has simply showed that gay men in their 20s in the area of Montreal, Canada, are significantly less depressed than their straight counterparts. That's it; nothing more and nothing less. The study itself is one data point and, as always, more work needs to be done to get a better, more detailed picture of sexuality and depression.
1. Yes, it is generalized. All scientific studies of human beings have to be, because they sample a population and describe the average behavior and distribution.
2. Just because your own personal observations do not match that found by a scientific study does not make the study suspect. This study is comparing two AVERAGE behaviors. It does not mean that ALL gay men are happier than ALL straight men. There are two distributions, and the average of the gay one was higher than the straight one in this study.
3. The study only sampled people in their early and mid 20s. Given that it was conducted at a university, it is a safe bet that these were college students. Also, if you go to the original study, it shows the authors were all based in Montreal, Canada. Therefore, the findings of this study are also likely limited to college students in a large, liberal metropolitan area.
Taken together, what this means is that the study has simply showed that gay men in their 20s in the area of Montreal, Canada, are significantly less depressed than their straight counterparts. That's it; nothing more and nothing less. The study itself is one data point and, as always, more work needs to be done to get a better, more detailed picture of sexuality and depression.