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We have this tendency to not see mental health as a disease. so for most of us we never realize these sorts of connections. But it is vital we change how we look at these things for everyone's sake.
@freemo Is there a source to the meme? I mean, it makes sense, and I like the sentiment, but I want to make sure it's true.
@freemo Megan M did an editorial about dark statistics a few years back: http://archive.is/K9MFy#selection-3051.0-3051.13
@djsumdog I am a professional statistician, so I recognize those concerns. the issue isnt so much with the statistics being dangerous but how we use it.
I suspect it is very true that people who are abused at a young age are more likely to be gay. That doesnt mean abuse causes you to be gay or that everyone who is gay is so because of abuse. It could be that gay people are just a greater target for abuse, even by parents. To me this seems like the greater explanation, they see theri male child being "feminine" so they beat them a little harder to toughen them up or some nonsense.
It could also be that some people (though i suspect this would be a small minority) might respond to abuse by picking a type of sexuality that tends to be abused.. Gay people are abused in society and if a child was abused they may have some sort of a messed up psychology where they pick a sexual life style contrary to their natural disposition as a sort of self-abuse. Though if this is a factor at all we would just as easily see the reverse in society if being gay was the norm.
Regardless we should always be critical of our interpretations and entertain critical thinking about it and our conclusions. With that said it seems like a pretty safe bet that the correlation between abuse and mental disorder is causative, at least to some extent. It makes sense intuitively.
@freemo You have to be careful with these correlation, because there are studies correlating child abuse with homosexuality. I knew fundie Christians who'd use this to be anti-homosexual. I had gay friends who told me they though this was true (one told me he and his gay cousin had both been abused) O_o
I don't think he was right though, but we don't know, because these are "Dark Numbers." You can't ethically do a lot of these studies, because the surveys essentially ask people to report crime.