Being called names such as
"gay," "faggot," "lezzie" may be experienced as
both harmful or harmless by adolescents, depending on the situation in which
the name-calling occurs. The aim of this study was to explore how being called
gay-related names by agents with whom the relationship is differentiated by
friendship, acquaintance status and perceived likeability is associated with
depressive symptoms, and to explore associations between gay-related
name-calling, bullying and depressive symptoms.
The participants were 921 ninth
grade pupils (450 boys) with an age range from 14 to 15 years from 15
schools. The study reveals that the participants' depressive symptoms were more
associated with being called gay-related names by someone who did not like them
or someone they did not know, than with being called gay-related names by a
friend. Being called gay-related names was associated with higher levels of
depressive symptoms, even when controlling for bullying. Boys who were bullied
and called gay-related names had even higher levels of depressive symptoms, as
indicated by an interaction effect found between being called gay-related names
and bullying.
Because of the potential harmfulness of gay-related name-calling,
anti-bullying programmes should address this topic as a part of their regular anti-bullying
strategy.
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By:
- 1Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
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