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Abstract
There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) people may be at a higher risk of developing mental health and substance use problems when compared to the heterosexual population. The aim of this report, which was commissioned by the New South Wales Health Ministry’s Mental Health Drug and Alcohol Office, was to identify and synthesize the existing research evidence related to the prevalence of psychological disorders and problematic drug use (illicit and licit) within GLBT populations.
A number of surveys have attempted to measure the size of the GLBT population in Australia. The Australian Study of Health and Relationships conducted in 2001/02 surveyed a representative sample of 19,307 Australians. Within this sample, 1.6% of men identified as gay, and 0.9% identified as bisexual. 0.8% of women identified as gay, and 1.4% identified as bisexual. A greater proportion of men and women reported either feelings of attraction towards the same sex, or some sexual experience with the same sex (8.6% of men and 15.1% of women). Similarly, the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes found that 1.6% of men identified as gay, and 1% as bisexual. 0.5% of women identified as lesbian, and 0.9% identified as bisexual (Wilson, 2004). Analysis of the 2001 Australian census has revealed that 0.2% of Australians reported being in a same sex relationship; 0.47% of people in a relationship reported that it was a same sex relationship (Birrell & Rapson, 2002). Being Australia’s most populous State, NSW has the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in Australia (Birrell & Rapson, 2002).
In summary, it appears that somewhere between 1% and 3% of the general population identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual; and a much higher proportion report same sex attraction. This highlights the importance of clarity of definitions and terms used, since it will clearly affect the resulting population size estimates.
In terms of substance use, whilst the report includes those studies which have looked at the rates of drug use, the focus of this review is on diagnosable mental health disorders, and diagnosable alcohol and other drug disorders (rather than merely use).
