Gay-related name-calling among Norwegian adolescents--harmful and harmless

Being called names such as "gay," "faggot," "lezzie" may be experienced as both harmful or harmless by adolescents, depending on the situation in which the name-calling occurs. The aim of this study was to explore how being called gay-related names by agents with whom the relationship is differentiated by friendship, acquaintance status and perceived likeability is associated with depressive symptoms, and to explore associations between gay-related name-calling, bullying and depressive symptoms. The participants were 921 ninth grade pupils (450 boys) with an age range from 14 to 15 years from 15 schools. The study reveals that the participants' depressive symptoms were more associated with being called gay-related names by someone who did not like them or someone they did not know, than with being called gay-related names by a friend. Being called gay-related names was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, even when controlling for bullying. Boys who were bullied and called gay-related names had even higher levels of depressive symptoms, as indicated by an interaction effect found between being called gay-related names and bullying. Because of the potential harmfulness of gay-related name-calling, anti-bullying programmes should address this topic as a part of their regular anti-bullying strategy.