#if OTHER PEOPLE didnt immediately associate them with identifying a certain way | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

flowerslightning · 5 years ago

Text

The Act of Recognizing and Missing Someone - Cloud Strife with Tifa edition

Ever wondered how on earth Cloud could quickly tell the girl inside the chocobo car was Tifa? Well, I do. This is just a gibberish and a little bit educational talk.. But here's what I found. Quite interesting (and hella confusing) for me

It’s kinda hard to explain, I don’t really understand this topic, unlike this part here where I explained about Cloud’s messed up memories. But I still want to share this with u guys.

Disclaimer : I'm still a student (or am I? This quarantine sucks) Psychiatric/Psychology/Neurobiology arent my major field. The interpretations I’ve made here probably have some errors here and there. Pls correct me if I’m wrong or misleading u

The biggest question is, how comes we can recognize someone's face? How well our brain able to detect someone's facial features, body postures and even voices to the point we can recall their name? This is a hard topic,so im just gonna focus on the visual part.

We all have been asking this to ourselves, how on earth Cloud was able to recognize the girl in the chocobo car was Tifa by just looking behind her back. It seems impossible, does it? Nothing is impossible for fictional world, ahahah.. But it actually makes sense in real life

And here's the answer based on what I've read and understood.

Our brain can be divided into six sections, and each section has their own functions and neurons. Based on studies, the sections inside the brain has something that we can call as ‘Face Patches’. It contains a numerous amount of specific neurons that help us to code ‘faces’ and recall memory/facts in our brain. So, when we look at someone, this patches work their cell and recall a name/fact. Some people can recognize a face fast while others need time to identify a face. Everyone has different ability for face recognising

In the region of our brain, one of them associated with ‘declarative memory’, it consists of facts and events that can be consciously recalled. Declarative memory can be further divided into two group - Episodic Memory and Semantic Memory. Focus on Episodic Memory, just like how the name suggest, its a ‘repeating’ of something, either event, places, associated emotions and even the faces. Cloud had lots of ‘episodic memory’ with Tifa, from when he was a kid till he became an adult.

Face recognition feels effortless compare to body posture. But actually both are challenging computational problem, especially the body posture part- eg the way someone walk, the way they jump etc. However, studies show that when u have a ‘connection’ with that person, just by looking behind the person’s back or look at the way they walk, the neurons inside your brain can work really fast to detect who that person is. It also involves with the hormones u have at that moment. The deeper connection u have with them, the faster ur brain work. So, u dont really have that A-HAA moment when u meet someone u’re connected with. The connection- or specifically the emotions we have has a particularly strong influence on attention, especially in motivating someone’s action and behavior. When u were shopping with ur mom and suddenly u got lost, u couldnt remember what color of ur mom’s dress but ur somewhat ‘instinct’ (kinda similar like how a cub loses its mom. They will hurry to find them) told ur eyes to go look for her sight. When ur brain memory detect someone ‘familiar’ like ur mom and u went to approach her, the neurons of ‘Face Patches’ would do its job to recognize the face and tell either that woman was ur mom or not.

So, based on this comprehension. I have 3 theories or understanding on how Cloud could immediately tell that girl was Tifa .

First, bcause we all knew he and Tifa were childhood friends. So, his brain was already familiar with Tifa’s body posture. Besides knowing that Cloud had a crush on her since young, pretty sure that boy always had his eyes on her (and until now, he still has it). So Cloud really got attached with Tifa in many ways. However, the prob is, didnt they got separated for at least 5 years, and Tifa’s body has changed, how could Cloud implied the memory of younger Tifa to this older Tifa? Okaaay, lets see if my second theory can support this statement

My second theory, Cloud was so used to watch Tifa’s back, wasnt he? Since he was a kid, he wanted to approach Tifa and the gang but he couldnt. So I assumed he always stay behind, watching Tifa’s back while the other kids were playing around. Plus, he also followed Tifa to the mountain and he watched her back. There was a scene where Cloud mistaken a kid at the Sector 5 slum to Tifa kid. And in the Crisis Core, he stayed behind the team and there he watched Tifa’s back in 15y/o version again. So, his memory about Tifa body posture was intact in his mind. Girls’ body got mature early and fast. I dont think there was much difference between 15y/o and 20y/o Tifa’s back posture and her hair. Her hair did get longer but u cant really tell how long the hair was through the chocobo car window.

Combining the memories Cloud had about Tifa’s body posture + he was deeply connected with her, this allowed Cloud to recognize Tifa immediately without needing the A-HA I REMEMBER U moment. The neurons inside his brain already have specific details about Tifa (cough.. lifestream. Damn u Cloud. ur brain is just filled with TIFA TIFA TIFA) + and also thanks to certain hormones that played a role here, Cloud could effortlessly recall her name upon meeting her figure.

The last theory would be bcause he missed and wanted to see Tifa till he saw other black haired girl as her. His brain had been repeatedly played the images of Tifa and certain hormones encouraged him to believe that girl was Tifa. I dont really understand the psychology of missing someone, but what I can conclude is, when u miss someone and u cant see them, the emotional pain u feel may harm ur physical a bit, depends on how well u deal with them. Some people will do crazy stuff to satisfy their need to avoid the ‘physical harm’, although certain acts will actually give them real physical injury. So, when Cloud running to the chocobo car without really need a confirmation that girl was Tifa might be bcause his brain tried to avoid the emotional pain that could give his physical distress. Imagine if the girl in the chocobo car wasnt Tifa, Cloud would be super duper upset. But well, Cloud missed Tifa was just a theory of mine.

Mistaken some strangers is a normal response in our daily life. It could be bcause of certain hormones inside our body were playing tricks with our neurons brain and we mistaken somebody as someone we wanted to see (am I using the correct words here? RIP english vocabs and grammars) Have u ever been in a situation where u miss someone, that person always linger inside ur head to the point that strangers kinda look like them? Or maybe u’re too scared of someone that everyone around u looked like them? Or maybe u just have lost ur little sister that tied her hair in ponytail and u often mistaken little girl with the same hairstyle as her? All of these not only related with the neurons in ur brain, but also memories and hormones took place here too. U ‘missed’ that person and u were hoping to see them very soon

Overall, I would say, Cloud’s neurons, memories, hormones and his desire to meet up with Tifa again, he could quickly tell the girl inside the chocobo car was really Tifa and ran to her without hesitation. He didnt need that “Hey, that girl looks familiar. Have I meet her somewhere.. A-HA, I KNOW THAT WOMAN! SHE’S TIFA, my childhood friend” moment. He had deep emotions with Tifa and had a strong desire to meet her soon. Thus, his brain already arranged the specific neurons that contained Tifa’s information. By the time Cloud saw her sight, in just a few seconds, he could recall the name in his brain.

Cloud need the ‘A-HA, I remember u’ moment when he met with Aerith. He didnt recognized Aerith’s face at all, not until Aerith mentioned about the flowers. Cloud remembered the flower (probably bcause he gave the flower to Tifa? Cloud had deep emotions with her) but not Aerith’s face. Again, I say, this is a normal act bcause Cloud didnt have any emotion with her to remember on that moment, but later on, Cloud (AC) cherished the yellow flower.

That’s it. Thank you for being with me till the end.

#character analysis #scene analysis #cloud strife #tifa lockhart #final fantasy vii #final fantasy 7 remake #ff7r spoilers #quotes #mygif #aerith gainsborough #final fantasy theory #final fantasy #ff edit

83 notes · View notes

tristanvswriting-blog · 5 years ago

Text

lit review draft #2

Lit Review

Introduction

From my research as to what is sneaker culture? I’ve come to find that sneaker are far more than shoes, so much is said and thought about sneakers that they carry with them an intrinsic value to the consumer. This value is provided by demand, Influence, and identity.

Identity

Sneakers came from humble beginnings, sneakers where originally and indicator of a working-class individual, the rubber dipped soles of shoes provided better longevity and traction for laborers (Duc Nhat Huy 6 and Chrisman-Campbell). This has evolved to the point where almost everyone has at least one pair of sneakers. Now there are more sneakers than even imaginable, giving the consumer to option to buy shoes that speak to their character. Rob Dyrdek, professional skate boarder and CO-Owner of DC Shoes was quoted in the documentary Sneakerheadz saying, “There are a handful of things that can define who you are without saying a word; shoes, are one of those things (Friendly and Partridge)”. This is where ideas of race, gender, sexual orientation, and personality descriptors come into play. KIMBERLY CHRISMAN-CAMPBELL explains in her Atlantic article, “Sneakers Have Always Been Political Shoes”, as verity grew shoes took on different meaning, for example Vans and other canvas shoes became the staple shoes of youth rebellion (Chrisman-Campbell). In Michael Jordan, Inc. They talk about the ides of race and how by just being the greatest athlete ever black lives were brought into white-household conversation. Thus, provided a backing for the Jordan shoes be a signifier of black excellence as well as promote racial equality (Andrews 47). Other operations to promote the Identity include gender and sexuality. It can be noted that there has been a shift away from the “shrink it and pink it” mentality that used to summarize women in the sneaker industry, to a more natural and comprehensive relationship with women’s sneaker design including using celebrity influence similar to how they’ve marketed to men for years (Miller 42-49). There is also a Nike’s line of Pride shoes that incorporate rainbows in poplar shoe design to show gay pride and support. There have also been interesting movements such as Adidas has a Parley collaboration, Parley be a recycled textiles distributor, who work with Adidas to create popular adidas shoes out of recycled materials. This helped people who identify as social activist to wear a shoe that promote their ideals. Identity is prevalent in all pieces of clothing but from the information collected it seems as though sneakers in particular has had a strong role in helping current, past, and future consumers show the world who they are.

Influence

Much of sneaker culture as we understand it today can be attributed to how people of status make us feel about sneakers. According to a thesis written by Rodney M. Miller, we can attribute the growth of the industry to three key components: physical activity, professional sport, and hip hop culture (Miller VII). Beginning with hip hop culture, Garrett Kalel Grant researched the brand associations attributed to Yeezy brand. Yeezy is a company collaboration between Adidas and Kanye West. According to Grants’ study, “The aggregation stage provided the researcher with eleven associations directly connected to Yeezy brand based on mention: Kanye, expensive, Adidas, overrated, trendy, athleisure, sneaker, Kardashian, fashion, shoes, popular.” Kanye, trendy, Kardashian, and popular; the significance of these is that when solely asked to name things associated with the brand Yeezy (Grant 49-50), the most common and immediate responses contained two celebrities names and multiple forms terms referring to reputation. This is an example of how a sneaker can generate influence beyond its designs as well as the influential impact celebrities have on branding, particularly in the hip hop industry. Next is physical activity. Physical activity has become a mainstream thing, where as in the past it was something only for athletes. This said, the necessity for exercise has influenced an increased demand for sneakers in order to participate in the socially expected (working out). This has influenced athletics companies to create a different shoe for every niche or activity, from walking shoes to lifting shoes; cross-trainer to lifestyle (Archer 56). Lastly, and likely most prominent in the sneaker industry, are athletes. Athletes are placed on a podium, a class of super humans that others aspire to be. That said it has become the status quo that if you are a star athlete you have a signature sneaker. Often people first think of Jordan for his revered line of shoes, but the first athlete with a signature sneaker actually dates back to 1917 when the galosh company Converse created their first signature sneaker; the Chuck Taylor All-Star; named after basketball player Charlie Taylor. From then one we as consumers have been buying signature shoes because we want to “be like mike” or whatever athlete you so choose. There is also an interesting concept of how shoe marketing has influenced males in particular that are presented in the art thesis of Justin Cloud. He ideates that the primal/ carnal impulse and obsession that is instilled in men by marketing has permeated its way into modern art, particularly sighting the sneaker industry and to pieces of his portfolio that are takes on the shoe of the future (Cloud 12-14).

Value

Shoe prices have increased dramatically since the birth of sneakers. Much faster than the rate of inflation. In 1957 Chuck Taylors cost $3.95 (Bengtson), 40 years after they were released. Directly adjusted for inflation they should cost $25.91 today; but on converse.com they cost $55. Also, for essentially the same shoe, but a street wear designer take on the classic silhouette, the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star Vulcanized Hi Off-White sells on StockX (a popular secondary shoe market) for roughly $1100. Shoes have taken on insane amounts of value because all the things they represent beyond just a devise to be worn on your foot. Often the value of sought-after sneaker will inflate to insane rates immediately following release do to a supply that is lower than the demand for the shoe. Alex Rakestraw says,

“a sneaker’s coolness is inversely related to how many people can potentially get their hands on it… if you’re the only one in your group with a specific shoe, the bragging rights are almost built-in. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but “1/100” is hard, fast, and objectively fresh” (Rakestraw).

He would later explain the conflict for valuable shoes by saying, “The thirst for inherent exclusivity creates an innately competitive culture where the goal is naturally adversarial” (Rakestraw). This has created new industry around shoes from reselling to cleaning like Mai Nhat Huy talks about in her bachelor thesis on Helsinki’s Sneaker Spa, the first provider of sport shoes and sneakers professional cleaning service. Often sneakers are treated like commodities, rather than shoes. This has created a movement of people who collect them like coins, as opposed to buying them to wearing them (Duc Nhat Huy 32). This has created a market similar to that of stock where any one particular shoe can increase of decrease in value at any given time based on external influence as well as demand.

Works Cited

Andrews, David L. Michael Jordan, Inc.: Corporate Sport, Media Culture, and Late Modern America. State University of New York Press, 2001.

Michael Jordan Inc. Is a look into how media and capitalism influence sports culture. Being that Michael is highly regarded as being one of the greatest athletes to ever live, the author thought it best to use him as a focus for his book. The reading has themes of corruption and influenced both on behalf of athletes and consumers. Most often though, corporations making or incentivizing a certain behavior to draw a rise from the consumer. “Nike has played a key role in promoting [certain] values and is thus is a major cultural force, a socializer and arbitrator of cultural and social values, as well as being a shoe company.” This quote directly ties into my research because we have to look into what sneaker culture is, and where it comes from. This implies that it may all be based on the influence of companies rather than the consumers who wear the shoes. This reading will also shed light on the influence of celebrities on the shoes we buy as well as how we value them.

Archer, Jean. “Anatomy of a Sneaker.” Network Journal, vol. 23, no. 2, 2016, p. 56.

Jean Archer, doctor of podiatrie medicine and foot surgery, is a podiatrist at Omnicare Multispecialty Center in Brooklyn, New York. He wrote this article to break down each individual component of a sneaker, and what that contributes to a shoe. He does so because as he puts it, “Most people lack the basic knowledge of what to look for in an athletic shoe.” Archer also talk about how many different sneakers there are for so many different activities. The reason I see this information to be important is a term like “sneaker” can be very ambiguous. For me to base a paper on it I think it best my audience and I be on the same page. Which is why I’d like to use this article from The Network journal, to help lay down some basic components that identify a sneaker, that way me and my reader can be on the same page.Cloud, Justin. “Ruin Runes.”

Bengtson, Russ. “50 Things You Didn't Know About Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars.” Complex, Complex, 20 Oct. 2016, www.complex.com/sneakers/2013/05/50-things-you-didnt-know-about-converse-chuck-taylor-all-stars/.

Russ Bengtson is the former editor-and-chief of Slam magazine, also the ditor for complex sneakers. This article is trying to a paint a picture of the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star, keing in on interesting facts. This is pertinent to my research because the All-Star is the birth of the modern sneaker as we know it today. So to really understand sneakers you first have to understand Converse. To summarize what converse is Benington says, “ [Converse have] gone from the world's most prevalent basketball sneaker to a lifestyle staple. It remains beloved both for its history and its simplicity.” Converse have a staying power unlike any other shoe, dating back to their creation in 1917 they have been on constant production with no signs of stopping. Converse is doing something right, and without them it is possible that we wouldn’t have a sneaker culture at all.

Cloud, Justin. “Ruin Runes.” CUNY Academy Works, 21 May 2018, https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/299/.

Justin Cloud has a Master of Fine Arts form Hunter College, where he wrote his thesis about the correlation between male ideals and how its leaked into his art. In this thesis he aims to draw a connection between male ego and fetishization of things like cares, SHOES, and survivalist mentality; to his modern sculpture movement that involves and invasion of industrial materials. Making lucid the ideas that are pounded into to the heads of men by modern marketing. The idea he presents is that these ideals have become such a staple that they are becoming a fluid part of who Justin Cloud is and therefore cannot be removed from anything he does, in this case: art. I seek to use this thesis, to help support some of the ideas about how shoes have become more than just something you need to wear. Cloud puts it well when he says, “Sneakers culture has completely ascended beyond that of practical footwear.” He goes on to talk about how sneakers are a practical solution for anyone, and marketers know that. So however you identify yourself, there is a shoe marketed towards you. Clouds adds on by saying how this marketing ideology has created a culture –specifically in men—that uses shoes to reinforce who they want to be.

Chrisman-Campbell, Kimberly. “The Long Political History of the Sneaker.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 28 Dec. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/12/sneakers-have-always-been-political-shoes/511628/.

Campbell tell the origin of sneakers as well as the political weight with which they carry. She is an author of an upcoming book entitled: Worn on This Day: The Clothes That Made History. In this article, as well as in her book, she focusses on the choices of consumers and industry to say certain things with their clothing. The article starts off with talking about how New Balances support of Trump created outrage with their consumers. It forces people to adopt their brands for the wrong reason (a Neo Nazi group claim that New Balance is the official shoe of white people). This led to bad press, as well as loss of previously held consumers. Even warranted a rebuttal from Nike, whom themselves had faced scandal for supporting specific celebrities. Campbell quotes Elizabeth Semmelhack in her article. Semmelhack is the Acclaimed shoe historian Elizabeth Semmelhack is senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto; also, the author of and curator of the book and exhibit Outside The Box. Semmelhack is quoted saying, “The cultural meaning behind sneakers is a constantly evolving dialogue between the people who produce the sneakers and the people who wear them.” Further contributing to the idea that sneakers have a voice, one that lends itself to self-expression or identity. The article contains themes of race, politics, and class; that push peoples interest in shoes beyond simple design.

Friendly, David T and Mick Partridge, directors. Sneakerheadz. Complex, 2015.

This is a documentary produced by the famed pop culture outlet Complex, known for doing in-depth research and explanations on things important to the teens and young adults. The documentary uses almost exclusively interviews with some of the most famed contributors and creators of modern sneaker culture. They talk about things like, where did the culture come from, how has the culture changed, what did they do to contribute to the culture, their fondest memories involving shoes, their favorite shoes and more. Why? Well because as Rob Dyrdek puts it,” There are a handful of things that can define who you are without saying a word; shoes, are one of those things.” Similar to others this work talks on history, but the documentary takes a look into many different backgrounds, while talking about things like design, selling, reselling, and collecting.Giving both a well rounded and more global perspective on the sneaker industry.

Grant, Garrett Kalel, “A Case Study of Brand Associations for Yeezy Brand” (2018). LSU Master’s Theses. 4716.https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/4716

This is a thesis based on the clothing brand Yeezy, Kanye’s brand underneath the Adidas franchise. The goal was to see how and what consumers associate with the brand Yeezy. They then took this information and saw how it would affect things like brand involvement and brand awareness. While this is a market research report I think it is interesting to understand how consumers preserve brand within the sneaker market. This could inform the obsessive nature of the sneaker consumers or even help us understand why we view shoe companies the way we do. Being also that Yeezy is a co-branded company between Kanye and Adidas, this thesis will talk about the influence of celebrity endorsements on the clothing market. The author says, “The aggregation stage provided the researcher with eleven associations directly connected to Yeezy brand based on mention: Kanye, expensive, Adidas, overrated, trendy, athleisure, sneaker, Kardashian, fashion, shoes, popular. Only the first seven associations could be directly connected to map based on their link strength.” This goes to show us that there are more to brands than just the name and what they sell, we draw external connections and that is what creates influence. I believe these influence could be the creates a culture in the sneaker industry if it is not the brands themselves as is implied in Michael Jordan, Inc.

Miller, Rodney M. Jr, “If the Shoe Fits: A Historical Exploration of Gender Bias in the U.S. Sneaker Industry” (2019). Senior Projects Spring 2019. 80. https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2019/80

Miller gives a history of how the sneaker industry began and has grown over the course of the last one hundred years or so. Citing three key components to growth in the industry; physical activity, professional sports, and Hip-Hop culture. Where Miller differs from other research is he focus on how the sneaker industry is polarizing particularly toward women. He explains how each of the three influences have brought with them their own set of biases towards women. Roughly summed up the author outs it this way: “n, women were discouraged from participating in physical activities because of misplaced fears that exercising was actually worse for women’s health. Additionally, competitive and professional sports show a historic bias against women because of beliefs that women were not anatomically structured to compete in sports. Lastly, Hip-Hop is a culture that has consistently placed constraints on women and ties their value based on their worth and their offerings to the men in their life.” This thesis could help to show who it is that comprise the sneaker culture. If it is found to be true that the culture really is a boy’s club it could warrant extra research as to why that is and the effect that has one women. This thesis also brings forth a interesting concept that is becoming fairly mainstream in modern culture. This being that boys are now the ones who collect and have ore shoes than they could wear, where in the past that had been ideal often associated with women. This thesis helps round out the history of how sneakers have gotten to where they are today.

Nhat Huy Mai. ”Helsinki’s Sneaker Spa Business Evaluation And Service Design.” Laurea University of Applied Sciences, October 2017, https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/154656/MaiDucNhatHuy_ThesisFinal.pdf?sequence=1

Duc Nhat Huy Mai is Degree Program in Restaurant Entrepreneurship, who wrote a bachelor thesis on Helsinki’s Sneaker Spa, the first provider of sport shoes and sneakers professional cleaning service, started by young entrepreneurs in 2017. While the goal of her these is to create a business plan for the Sneaker Spa, Mai does an amazing job of research to the growth of the sneaker industry and the how it is blossoming into new emerging markets such as shoe cleaning. My goal is to use her research to paint some of the back story of where sneakers come from; as well as, since her research is based in Finland, talk about the globalization of sneaker culture and some of the difference between areas. She says, “sneakers were invented in 18th century in US, when low class attached rubber to their sole to make the shoes more durable”. And I want know how we went from that to sneaker culture as we know it today.

Rakestraw, Alex. “Sneaker Culture Is a Reminder That We’re All Just Animals.” Highsnobiety, Highsnobiety, 5 Sept. 2017, www.highsnobiety.com/2017/09/04/sneaker-culture-competition-or-community/.

Rakestraw write this article to talk about how the search for rare shoes reverts the consumer to a primal state. This is one of the darker sides of the sneaker industry and sadly is often what outsider hear about sneaker culture. The want, or need in the mind a sneakerhead, can cause people to do some crazy things. We hear story of people being trampled robbed or even killed for their shoes. Rakestraw equates this to, “The thirst for inherent exclusivity creates an innately competitive culture where the goal is naturally adversarial: if your friend has a dope exclusive shoe, then your search for a more exclusive (and therefore more desirable) shoe is an ongoing challenge”. This poses interesting ideas as to whether the sneaker culture is a good thing or a bad thing. There are many sources that show he community and family oriented nature of the sneaker community, but what makes the main stream media of the outlandishly bad things the come from the sneaker community, as is the case with many news stories. This will help shape the image of what it looks like to be inside the sneaker culture. Painting the picture of what creates demand and how desire is influence by exclusivity.

0 notes

viralhottopics · 8 years ago

Text

Same-Sex Marriage Laws Linked To Powerful Drop In Teen Suicide Rate

Living in a community that recognizes gay marriage can improve the mental health of all teens, according to a new study.

State marriage equality laws enacted in the years before the 2015 Supreme Court ruling were linked to lower rates of suicide attempts among all high school students but especially among teens who identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or unsure. Ultimately, the researchers found, for every year that same-sex marriage laws were in place, 134,000 fewer teens attempted suicide.

This is noteworthy because queer teens are more than four times as likely toattempt suicideas their straight peers.

While the study doesnt demonstrate that these laws actually caused a reduction in suicide attempts, lead study author Julia Raifman theorized that having equal protection under the law may account for much of the change.

These are high school students so they arent getting married any time soon, for the most part, said Raifman, a post-doctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a statement about her research.

Still, permitting same-sex marriage reduces structural stigma associated with sexual orientation. There may be something about having equal rights even if they have no immediate plans to take advantage of them that makes students feel less stigmatized and more hopeful for the future.

Raifmans theory is an important measure in this new political climate. Same-sex marriage is now federal law, thanks to the 2015 Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, but there are worrying signs that Republican politicians may start to undermine the right to marriage and LGBTG protections in general, both at the state and federal levels.

Studies like this one show that equal marriage rights benefit those who want to marry someone of the same gender but also improve mental health for everyone, especially queer teens.

Policymakers need to be aware that policies on sexual minority rights can have a real effect on the mental health of adolescents, she concluded. The policies at the top can dictate in ways both positive and negative what happens further down.

The link between equal marriage and teen suicide attempts

Before 2015, only 35 states had legalized same-sex marriage. During this era, Raifman surveyed nearly 800,000 students of all sexual orientations from 1999 to 2015 about suicide attempts both before and after 32 states had legalized same-sex marriage. She also compared teen suicide attempts in states that legalized marriage to those in states that didnt.

Before the passage of same-sex legislation, nearly 9 percent of all teens and nearly 29 percent of queer-identifying teens had attempted suicide.After states enacted same-sex marriage laws, suicide attempts dropped to 8 percent among all teens and 25 percent among queer teens.

That might not seem like a lot, but based on these reductions, Raifman estimates that every year of same-sex marriage policies was linked to about 134,000 fewer teens attempting suicide.

Alissa Scheller/The Huffington Post

In states with same-sex marriage policies, the percent of students reporting a suicide attempt in the past year decreased, especially among LGBT youth.

How the right to marry affects mental health

Raifmans study adds to a body of research demonstrating links between same-sex marriage laws and mental health in the queer community. For instance, a 2010 study suggested that psychiatric disorder diagnoses among queer people increased significantly in states that banned same-sex marriage in 2004 and 2005, and that spending on mental health services decreased among gay men in Massachusetts after the state legalized same-sex marriage in 2003, no matter their relationship status.

Laws that speak to the core of a persons identity can have the effect of making someone feel included in wider society, says Dan Reidenberg, director of Suicide Awareness Voices of Education in Minnesota.

The right to marriage also signals a right to experience love, to be a part of a romantic relationship and the right to a certain social status and benefits. This makes people feel more included and lessens shame about their status as a sexual minority, he said.

Reidenberg wasnt involved in Raifmans analysis, but he praised it for emphasizing a reduction in the number of suicide attempts.

Any time we lessen the potential for death by taking away the number of attempts, were literally saving peoples lives.

The more that people feel that they are accepted and that people are not going to ostracize them or stigmatize them or put them in a separate category and make them feel different and uncared for, the better off were going to be in terms of keeping people alive, Reidenberg continued.Were not just talking about reducing suicide, as you can see in this study, but were talking about general mental health and well being.

On the other hand, laws that bar same-sex couples from legal marriage can have negative psychosocial effects, both on the couples themselves and the children they are raising together. A 2006 article written by members of the American Academy of Pediatrics (and published the same year the anti-LGBT Defense of Marriage Act went into effect) argued for more inclusive public policies for LGBT relationships because of their potential to strengthen family tiesbetween parents and children, and also to protect the children legally, financially and emotionally from the insecurity of an uncertain legal status.

Raifmans study was published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.

This reporting is brought to you by HuffPosts health and science platform, The Scope. Like us onFacebookandTwitterand tell us your story:[email protected].

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HELLO to 741-741 for free, 24-hour support from the Crisis Text Line. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of resources.