Untethered lives: Barriers to societal integration as predictors of the sexual orientation disparity in suicidality

Background Despite increasing legal protections and supportive attitudes toward sexual minorities (e.g., those who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual [LGB]) in recent decades, suicidality remains more common among this population than among heterosexuals. While barriers to societal integration have been widely theorized as determinants of suicidality for the general population, they have not been comprehensively explored to explain the sexual orientation disparity in suicidality and/or compared to more established contributors. Methods Data come from the cross-sectional Swedish National Public Health Survey, which randomly collected data from individuals (16-84 years of age) annually from 2010 to 2015 (1,281 (2.2%) self-identified as LGB). Analyses examined sexual orientation differences in suicidality (i.e., past-12-month ideation and attempts), and explored the role of barriers to societal integration (i.e., not living with a partner or children, unemployment, and lack of societal trust) in explaining this disparity over-and-above more commonly explored psychological (e.g., depression, substance use) and interpersonal (e.g., discrimination, victimization, lack of social support) suicidality risk factors. Results Compared to heterosexuals, suicidal ideation and attempts were more common among both gay men/lesbians (AORideation: 2.51; AORattempts: 4.66), and bisexuals (AORideation: 3.76; AORattempts: 6.06). Barriers to societal integration mediated the association between sexual orientation and suicidality even in models adjusting for established risk factors for suicidality. Conclusions The disproportionate barriers to societal integration that LGB individuals experience seem important contributors to the elevated risk of suicidality among sexual minorities. Preventive interventions should consider innovative ways to foster societal integration within sexual minority populations and to adjust hetero-centric social institutions to better include sexual minorities.

The Sizable Difficulty in Recognizing Unfamiliar Faces Differing Only Moderately in Orientation in Depth is a Function of Image Dissimilarity

Attempting to match unfamiliar faces at moderate differences in orientation in depth is surprisingly difficult. No general account of these costs has been offered. We assessed the effects of orientation disparity in a match-to-sample paradigm of a triangular display of three faces. Two lower test faces, a matching face and a foil, were always at the same orientation and differed by 0° to 20° from the sample on top. The similarity of the images was scaled by a model based on simple cell tuning that correlates almost perfectly with psychophysical similarity. Two measures of face similarity accounted for matching performance: a) the decrease in similarity between the images of the matching and sample faces produced by increases in their orientation disparity, and b) the similarity between the matching face and the selection of a particular foil. The two images of the same face at a 20° difference in orientation revealed a previously unappreciated marked increase in dissimilarity that was so high that it could be equivalent to the image dissimilarity between two faces at the same orientation, but differing in race, sex, and expression. The 20° orientation disparity was thus sufficient to yield a sizeable 301 msec increase in reaction time.

Wavelet for binocular vision modeling

In the present study, binocular vision properties were modeled using a single elementary wavelet. Opponent responses (ON-OFF) appeared in the first stages of the neural coding in the retina. This property was assumed to build an adequate wavelet showing a positive part (On) and a negative part (OFF). We have examined the experimental orientation and position disparity given by Bishop. We assumed that the theoretical position disparity was given by a combination of two wavelets for a given orientation disparity β. A change in β implied a change in the magnitude of one of the wavelets and consequently a change in the wavelets combination. There was a close match between the theoretical and experimental position disparity curves according to the changes in orientation disparity.