It takes alot of guts to admit to being gay when you're a teenager. Maybe these people were more honest about their responses than the straight kids.

The need for attention can be a pretty strong motivator, apparently.

Perhaps these kids were more honest.

Perhaps they were 'driven' to these behaviours because of depression. These groups are also more depressed than their peers. This is all rooted in the fact that these kids suffer more peer and family disapproval. Maybe we ought to consider how accepted these kids really are by their peers and their families.

If you are stupid enough to be a partner in gay sex risking AIDS and other STD's you are stupid enough to do anything life threatening.

If a queer teen has social stigmas pushed into their life; then is able to overcame such and become at peace with such issues. Perhaps it isn't much of a stretch for that teen to also challenge and test other activities that were once held in disapproval.

The teens are the time when young people need more coaching and guidance than any other time in their lives. "Gay Lesbien and"bi's" have had no guidance at all, sorry to say. They have not learned respect, first, for themselves and second for anything or onyone. No wonder they take more chances...more attention, what they crave and need and never get.....except from the Coroner.

DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why would you even waste money to do research on that?

They're self-medicating. Being a gay or bi teen usually sucks, and constant negative reinforcement leads to rebellion.

I never tried or used Tobacco, never tried or used drugs and drink very little. I'm straight and monogamous with my wife of 25 years. How about that.

When you begin to become sexually active, not necessarily having sex but wanting to, and you realize you're more attracted to the same sex rather than the opposite sex, like most people, you begin to realize that you're different.

"Who's going to accept me? ...Everyone tells me my feelings are invalid, so how do I make them valid without betraying my feelings? ...People are making fun of me and telling me I'm stupid, a fag (or bundle of sticks to be burned in a fire), wierd, abnormal, no one likes me ...everyone tells me I'm going to hell ...I can't ever be a good parent without betraying how I feel ...I'm not as good as anyone else ...I'm a girlie boy ...a fairy ...no one wants to hang out with me... etc., etc. etc.)

When you hear those things or even fear that those around you are thinking those things, you want to somehow prove to EVERYone that you are more than what they say you are, and, sadly, the only acceptance you can find is with "the druggies" or the other outlying individuals who don't encourage good behavior, but rather:

"Look, dude, now you're cool! You're selling my dope SO WELL!!! If you suck my d**k I'll let you keep have the profits and some of the stash to share with your friends, who will also then think you're cool cause you have such a great 'connection'."

Come on now... is there a big "DUH" here, or what? Once the population starts treating GLBT like they are humans who have the same rights as them... that they are JUST AS BEAUTIFUL AND GREAT as them, rather than some subhuman, these kids won't take as many risks anymore to gain approval.

I mean SERIOUSly... how is it we have all these adults in the world who are SUPPOSED to be so much more intelligent now that they're adults and they're acting EXACTLY like some hateful, vindictive, schoolyard bully. How is it there are entire groups of Christians or other religous groups out there that basically spit venom out instead of life and love. Isn't it supposed to be those groups in particular that ENCOURAGE life and love?

But then again... maybe it's some kind of twisted jealousy. Maybe those groups actually want to get gay themselves and now they're simply angry they can't because they've bought into bull@!$%#. Too bad... for the world.

Apparently being gay is really hard. I wonder why kids bother. Maybe they should stick to something more mainstream.

 Perhaps Atavist, they found themselves with desires that they knew were different but couldn't help but have them.  People act as if homosexual, or gay sex is so desireable that people willingly engage in it simply because it is somehow preferable to heterosexual sex.

God will punish them...by death or eternal separation....God help gays

Oxymoron: Gay Christians

I'm gay and 23, and I can say that gay kids have more on their plate to deal with when compared to their heterosexual peers. And as many of us may know, teenagers in general don't always have the best coping skills, which is where these behaviors may be manifesting themselves. Also, I do agree with others in that gay kids may also just be more honest. If you are open about your minority sexual orientation then you might be open to sharing even more about yourself.

These sick children need to go into counseling to work out their problems.

I'm 21, and have always had a confused feeling aobut this sort of thing.

Everyone's right, it does take guts to admit that sort of thing...hell, I waited until my senior year to admit that I had kissed that girl. I mean, the way I saw it was, "I never have to see any of these people again, let alone be their friends...just answer the question". So when the two girls in my class asked me if it was true, I just smiled all casual, and said "yeah".

Of course the numbers will look larger for the Gay/bi/ Lesbian kids because there are less of them. the percentages look smaller for the straight kids because i'm sure there are more straight kids being studied. they are just studying random high school students, try studying an EQUAL amount of students. then watch the numbers even out.

but I do agree, gays/bi/lesbian kids do have it pretty tough.

but so do fat kids. do a study on fat kids vs skinny kids. Fat kids are probably more prone to rebellious acts too.

of course the numbers of the Gay/bi/lesbian kids will be higher, they are studying random high school kids so there probably lesser gay kids than straight kids making the numbers look really high. There are more straight kids being studied so their numbers will look smaller because of the amount of people being surveyed.

try studying the same amount of students from both categories. the numbers will look closer to each other.

but i do agree that gay/bi/lesbian kids have it tough.

but so do obese kids. why doesn't someone do a study to see if fat kids are more prone to risky behaviors than skinny kids? (((if we are basing it off of social rejection as a cause for risky behavior )))