NEW RESEARCH How Gay–Straight Alliance Groups Mitigate the Relationship Between Gay-Bias Victimization and Adolescent Suicide Attempts Brennan Davis, PhD, Marla B. Royne Stafford, PhD, Chris Pullig, PhD Objective: We examined the relationships between victimization from being bullied, suicide, hopelessness, and the presence of a Gay–Straight Alliance (GSA) on a school campus. Method: We analyzed data from the California Healthy Kids Survey from 2005 to 2007 using hierarchical modeling. Results: We found that gay-bias (versus non–gay-bias) victimization is meaningfully connected with the inwardly destructive behavior of attempted suicide among adolescents. We also found that hopelessness helps explain associations between gay-bias victimization and suicide attempts and that the presence of a GSA club on a school’s campus attenuates significant connections between gay-bias victimization and suicide attempts by reducing hopelessness. Conclusion: Gay-bias victims are more likely than other victims to attempt suicide while also feeling more hopeless. The presence of a GSA on campus may help to reduce the attempted suicide and hopelessness associated with gay-bias victimization. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2014;-(-):-–-. Key Words: bully, victimization, hopelessness, suicide, gay A dolescents in the United States often encounter bullying at school. 1 Bullying is the intentional and repetitive physical, verbal, social, or cyber acts of aggression toward a victim, 1 and appears to be on the rise. In 2001, 14% of adolescents reported victimization by a bully (“victimization”) at school; by 2011, that number had doubled to 28%. 2,3 Although bullying has been around for decades, the emer- gence of the Internet and increased consumption of social media have provided additional outlets and opportunities for bullying. 4 In an effort to cope, victims may engage in numerous behaviors, ranging from isolation to self-destructive tendencies, including attempted suicide. 5-6 Considerable research has investigated negative behaviors associated with victimiza- tion, 7 with much of this work examining the relationship between victimization and suicide. 6,8 Other research has investigated ways to reduce adolescent bullying. 9,10 Although reducing bullying is paramount, little research has inves- tigated ways to mitigate associated negative effects on victims. Furthermore, most research suggesting ways to mitigate these effects has treated victimization homogeneously, 1,11 failing to explore potential differences in reasons for which adolescents might perceive themselves as bullying targets. Adolescents report being bullied for several reasons, including sexual orientation, gender, disability, race, and religion 10 ; therefore, not all victims are likely to react the same way or to be perceived as deserving equal sympathy. Victimization based on sexual orientation, specifically gay-bias victimization, is of special concern. The 2011 National School Climate Survey reported that 63.5% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students felt unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation. 12 Among these students, 81.9% reported verbal harassment (e.g., being called names, threat- ened), 38.3% reported physical harassment (e.g., being pushed, shoved), and 18.3% reported physical assault (e.g., being Clinical guidance is available at the end of this article. An interview with the author is available by podcast at www. jaacap.org or by scanning the QR code to the right. Supplemental material cited in this article is available online. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CHILD & ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY VOLUME - NUMBER - - 2014 www.jaacap.org 1