Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Health & Wellness

Outness, discrimination, demographic variables affect mental health of LGBTQ+ people – study

LGBTQ+ people already face mental health disparities, and a study finds that outness, discrimination, and other demographic variables affect possible serious mental illness among LGBTQ+ people.

Photo by Pier Monzon from Unsplash.com

As it is, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) people face mental health disparities. But how do outness, discrimination, and other demographic variables affect possible serious mental illness (SMI) among LGBTQ+ people?

A study – “Outness, Discrimination, and Psychological Distress Among LGBTQ+ People Living in the Southern United States” by Joanna A. Caldwell, Alexander Borsa, Baker A. Rogers, Ryan Roemerman, and Eric R. Wright – that appeared in LGBT Health eyed to look into this.

For this study, the researchers used data from the 2017 LGBT Institute Southern Survey, a cross-sectional convenience sample of 6,502 LGBTQ+ adults living in 14 Southern states of the US. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to examine differences between those with and without possible SMI.

The researchers found:

  • Outness was associated with a lower likelihood of possible SMI, especially when controlling for discrimination in the past 12 months and lifetime discrimination.
  • Lifetime discrimination was associated with a higher likelihood of possible SMI, as was discrimination experienced in the past 12 months.
  • Black/African American respondents had the lowest percentage of possible SMI (21.0%) compared with other races, despite having lower or comparable rates of outness.

“These results indicate a possible promotive effect of outness against possible SMI among LGBTQ+ Southerners, as well as possible promotive group-level factors among Black/African American LGBTQ+ Southerners,” stressed the researchers. As such, for them, “policies and interventions that address discrimination against LGBTQ+ (people) should be expanded, and future research should address how the relationships between outness, discrimination, and mental health outcomes may vary by subgroup.”

Advertisement
Advertisement

Like Us On Facebook

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Health & Wellness

Transgender/gender diverse autistic adults were 2.3 times more likely to report a physical health condition, 10.9 times more likely to report a mental health...

NEWSMAKERS

Psychological aggression was the most common type of IPV within an LGB relationship (22.1%), followed by physical assault (10.8%) and IPV-related injury (4.1%). LGB-specific...

Health & Wellness

Lesbian, gay and bisexual people vape at significantly higher rates than their straight peers, with nearly 40% of gays and lesbians having tried e-cigarettes...

Health & Wellness

The more internalized queerphobia, perceived stigma, and prejudice events that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals encounter means they are also more...

Advertisement