Summary of story from Huffington Post, November 10, 2011

A new study has found that bisexual women are more likely to smoke, binge drink and suffer from stress and depression.

The study, carried out by George Mason University in the USA, looked at how three different dimensions of sexuality – identity, behavior and attraction - linked with health problems.

The results showed that while depression and alcohol abuse were equally prevalent among bisexual men and women during their formative teenage years, the risks significantly decreased for men as they got older, while remaining the same for women.

Research also revealed that women who strictly identified themselves as either straight or gay were not subject to the same risks of alcohol abuse and depression as women who were attracted to both sexes.

Bisexual men, however, did not report any symptoms of depression or urges to binge drink.

Lead researcher Lisa Lindly said that according to the study, bisexual participants said that they felt “invisible”.

“There tends to be this expectation or standard that a person picks one sexual identity and sticks with it. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding about bisexuals. I think their risk has a lot more to do with stigma,” she said.

According to the Indian Express, the study also suggested that bisexual young women may also have less community support and more fluctuating sexual identities than bisexual young men, which could also be responsible for the depression and stress.