Annotated
bibliography
D'Augelli,
Anthony R., Arnold H. Grossman, Nicholas P. Salter, and Joseph J. Vasey. 2005. "Predicting
the Suicide Attempts of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth." Suicide & Life – Threatening Behavior 35(6):646-60. Retrieved November 12, 2018 (http://byui.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/224873090?accountid=9817)
In
this study predictors of serious suicide attempts among lesbian, gay, and
bisexual (LGB) youth were examined. Three groups were compared: youth who
reported no attempts, youth who reported attempts unrelated to their sexual orientation,
and youth whose attempts were considered related to their sexual orientation.
About one third of respondents reported at least one suicide attempt; however,
only half of the attempts were judged serious based on potential lethality.
About half of all attempts were related to youths' sexual orientation. Factors
that differentiated youth reporting suicide attempts and those not reporting
attempts were greater childhood parental psychological abuse and more childhood
gender-atypical behavior. Gay-related suicide attempts were associated with
identifiability as LGB, especially by parents. Early openness about sexual
orientation, being considered gender atypical in childhood by parents, and
parental efforts to discourage gender atypical behavior were associated with
gay-related suicide attempts, especially for males. Assessment of past parental
psychological abuse, parental reactions to childhood gender atypical behavior,
youths' openness about sexual orientation with family members, and lifetime gay-related
verbal abuse can assist in the prediction of suicide attempts in this
population. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
This article was written in December 2005 and is a
nice factual study. There were multiple studies done before this one dating
back to 1991 but this study was able to discover more connections between
sexual orientation and mental health. This study was based off of 528 LGB youth
based in New York City. Out of those youth 56% of them were males and 44% were
females all in the age rang of 15-19, with the average age being 17. The people
conducting this survey spent 2 years surveying these youth. Out of this study
three groups emerged from it; youth who had made no attempts on their life,
youth who made attempts unrelated to their sexual orientation, and youth who
made attempts on their life based off of their sexual orientation. Out of all
the people surveyed 31% stated that they had made attempts on their life, but
due to some not being serious or based off of other reasons beside sexual
orientation the number drops to 138. Out of those 138 youth only 40% of those
suicide attempts were not life threatening. Based off of this study males are
more likely to attempt suicide than females. The theory for this is because
males have an earlier awareness of their same sex attraction in life. This
study also says that youth who hit major miles stones regarding their sexual
orientation earlier in life are more likely to have attempted a suicide
attempt. One of the major factors that resulted in major suicide attempts is
past victimization based off of their sexual orientation, especially if it is
by their parents. This article is a very interesting statistical about this
survey.
Scott, Roger L., Gerri
Lasiuk, and Colleen M. Norris. 2016. "Sexual Orientation and Depression in
Canada." Canadian Journal of Public Health 107(6):545-9. Retrieved November 12, 2018 (http://dx.doi.org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.17269/CJPH.107.5506).
Depression
is a global concern and it is well known that certain segments of the
population are at greater risk. Sexual minorities are recognized as being more
likely to suffer from depression due to social stigma and prejudice. The aim of
this study was to describe the relationship between sexual orientation and
depression in the Canadian population. The study used the 2012 Canadian
Community Health Survey - Mental Health data. The sample comprised 24,788
Canadians living in the ten provinces. Logistic regression analyses were used
to examine the relationship of depression and sexual orientation. After
adjusting for known risk factors for depression, there was no difference in
prevalence of past 12-month or lifetime major depressive episode between sexual
minorities and heterosexuals. Bisexuals did have a near significant trend
towards higher prevalence of both past 12-month and lifetime depression as a
combined group, but there were not clear differences when stratified by sex.
This study supports important emerging trends in the relationship between
sexual orientation and depression. Research on the mental health of sexual
minority people must take into account differences between sexual minority groups
and avoid aggregating mental health disorders into broad categories. These
findings have implications for public health planning and clinical
recommendations.
The main goal of this study was to
discover if sexual minority groups suffer the effects of depression more due to
their sexual identification. Through past studies and minority stress theory it
is stated that minority groups, such as, indigenous people, racial minorities,
and sexual minorities are reported to suffer from mental health disorders. It
is also reported that sexual minorities have a higher risk compared to
heterosexuals. The idea behind this study is the fact the depression can be
such a crippling disease, it is important to know what groups might be more
susceptible towards depression. 24,788 people were sampled through Canada’s ten
provinces and out of that number only 1.5% were identified as gay men, 0.7%
identified as lesbian woman, 0.6% identified as bisexual men, and 1.1%
identified as bisexual woman. In order to avoid limitations or false causes in
this study the researchers used a scoring system for other variables that are
know to effect depression such as, social support, annual income, employment,
socio-demographical variables, and health status. Interestingly this study concluded
that the majority of people who identify as a sexual minority do not suffer
from depression compared to heterosexuals. This is credited to Canada’s
increase of sexual minority acceptance with marriage equality and increase of
acceptance of LGBT from celebrities.
Tinney, Jean, Briony
Dow, Phillip Maude, Rachel Purchase, Carolyn Whyte, and Catherine Barrett. 2015. "Mental
Health Issues and Discrimination among Older LGBTI People." International
Psychogeriatrics 27(9):1411-6. Retrieved
November 12, 2018 (http://byui.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/1700208185?accountid=9817).
doi: http://dx.doi.org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.1017/S1041610214002671.
LGBT
is an acronym used to describe people from diverse sexual orientation or gender
identity, people that are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. LGBT people
do not constitute a single group nor does each individual "group"
constitute a homogeneous unity. However, as higher rates of depression and/or
anxiety have been observed in older LGBT people, compared to their heterosexual
counterparts (Guasp, 2011) there is a need to raise the profile of mental health
issues amongst these groups. The additional letter I is also often included in
the acronym LGBTI as intersex people are often included as another gender
diverse group. However, there is very little research that includes intersex
people and none on older intersex people's mental health so this editorial is
restricted to consideration of older LGBT people.
This is a paper is a write up of
multiple past studies done on older LGBT people and their mental health. The
biggest and most famous past study this paper writes about is the Stonewall report: lesbian, gay, and bisexual
people in later life (2011). This author also referenced many other past
studies that are all used as references that can be found at the end of this
paper. During this paper you learn that depression, anxiety, and substance use
disorders are 1.5 times more common in LGBT people compared to heterosexual
people. According to the stonewall report there is a fear in older LGBT people
about health care services, roughly half of all people surveyed said they are
afraid to tell their health care provider (hospital, senior care housing,
health care staff members) about their sexual orientation. Interestingly though
older LGBT people are twice as likely to use an official health care service,
this is credited to lack of other social groups such as family or friends due
to past discrimination. Past discrimination is serious problem for LGBT people
causing current fear over discrimination in health care services and affects
their mental health. The current generation of LGBT people grow up in a time
where LGBT sexual behavior was not only frown on but in some cases also
criminalized, like, in Britain it was not decriminalized until 1967, Scotland
and whales it was not until 1980, and in some parts of the united states of
America it was still criminalized until 2003. Growing up with these
institutional forms of discrimination has increased the risk of anxiety and
depression in older LGBT people.
D'Augelli, Anthony and
Arnold Grossman. 2001. "Disclosure of Sexual Orientation,
Victimization, And Mental Health Among Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Older
Adults." Journal of interpersonal violence 16(10):1008-27. Retrieved November 12, 2018 (https://journals-sagepub-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/doi/10.1177/088626001016010003).
This study examined the lifetime victimization based on
sexual orientation of 416 lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) older adults aged 60
or older. Participants reported the ages at which they were aware of their
sexual orientation, self-identified as LGB, and first disclosed their sexual
orientation to anyone. Frequencies of nine kinds of verbal and physical
victimization were obtained. Nearly three quarters reported some kind of sexual
orientation victimization. Men reported more overall victimization than women.
The more open participants were about their sexual orientation and the less
time they spent before disclosing their sexual orientation, the more
victimization they reported. Physical victimization was associated with earlier
achievement of sexual orientation milestones and more time being open about
one's sexual orientation. Participants who had been physically attacked
reported lower self-esteem, more loneliness, and poorer mental health than
others. More suicide attempts were reported among those older adults who were
physically attacked.
This study was focused on the mental
health of older LGBT people and the correspondence of past victimization. This
study was based off of surveying individuals by use of a questionnaire, which
resulted in 416 people over the age of 60 participating. Out of those 416
people 71% of them were men and 29% of them were women, 90% were Caucasian, 3%
were African American, and 2% were Hispanic. Out of all the people 92% of
people identified as either gay or lesbian and only 8% identified as Bisexual.
During the survey they asked for factors such sexual orientation mile stones,
what age they identified publicly, who knew of their sexual orientation, and if
they had a current partner or not. They measured people’s self-esteem by use of
the 10-item Rosenberg scale (1979). One thing this study paid close attention
to was the victimization at home or in places of employment. On average most of
the participants had confirmed their orientation at age 14, but males
identified at an earlier age than most females. Throughout their lives 63% of
all participants experienced verbal abuse, 29% were threatened with violence,
16% had been physically attacked, 11% have had objects thrown at them, 12% have
been threatened with weapons, and 7% had been sexually assaulted. This research
shows that men are victimized at a greater amount compared to woman, 34% of men
vs 16% of woman. The interesting conclusion and main part of this study is that
it shows that the people who are victims of past victimization have way more
anxiety and suffer from depression at a greater rate than those who had not
gone through those experiences.
Przedworski, Julia M.,
Nicole A. VanKim, Marla E. Eisenberg, Donna D. McAlpine, Katherine A. Lust, and
Melissa N. Laska. 2015. "Self-Reported Mental Disorders and
Distress by Sexual Orientation: Results of The Minnesota College Student Health
Survey." American Journal of Preventive Medicine 49(1):29-40. Retrieved November 12, 2018 (https://www-sciencedirect-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0749379715000483).
Sexual minority college students (i.e., those not
identifying as heterosexual, or those reporting same-sex sexual activity) may
be at increased risk of poor mental health, given factors such as minority
stress, stigma, and discrimination. Such disparities could have important
implications for students’ academic achievement, future health, and social
functioning. This study compares reports of mental disorder diagnoses,
stressful life events, and frequent mental distress across five gender-stratified
sexual orientation categories.
This paper is a study of past
studies conducted on effects sexual orientation has on mental health with
college students as well as the author’s own study on data she pulled from a
study conducted by the College Student Health Survey. The main purpose of this
paper is to use self-reported mental health disorders or stressful life events
of LGB students and compare them to heterosexual students. The College Student
Health Survey (CSHS) conducted a voluntary survey from the years 2007-2011 with
40 different college institutions in the sate of Minnesota. These institutions
were a mix of both 2-year programs and 4-year degree institutions. At the end
of this study there were 34,324 participants. The majority of the participants
were heterosexual with 93% of women and 93.1% of men identifying as
heterosexual. Among the students who identified as either lesbian, gay, or
bisexual; among woman 0.8% reported as discordant heterosexual, 1.2% reported
as lesbian, 3.5% reported as bisexual, and 1.6% reported as unsure. Among the
men, 0.9% reported as discordant heterosexual, 2.9% reported as gay, 1.6%
reported as bisexual, and finally 1.6% reported as unsure of their sexual
orientation. 83.3% of participants were Caucasian and the medium age equaled to
22 years old. The results of this survey stated that LGB students across
Minnesota were significantly more likely to report being diagnosed with a
mental disorder or report having a stressful life event corresponding to their
sexual orientation.
Bolton, Shay-Lee and
Sareen Jitender. 2011. "Sexual Orientation and its Relation to
Mental Disorders and Suicide Attempts: Findings from a Nationally
Representative Sample." Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 56(1):35-43. Retrieved
November 12, 2018 (http://byui.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/853891766?accountid=9817).
To
compare the rates of all Axis I and II mental disorders and suicide attempts in
sexual orientation minorities with rates in heterosexuals using a nationally
representative sample. Data used were from the National Epidemiologic Survey on
Alcohol and Related Conditions Wave 2 (n = 34 653, response rate = 70.2%).
Cross-tabulations and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed
to determine differences in rates of mental disorders and suicide attempts by
sexual orientation. All analyses were stratified by sex. Compared with their
heterosexual counterparts, lesbians and bisexual women demonstrated a 3-fold
increased likelihood of substance use disorders, and gay and bisexual men
showed twice the rate of anxiety disorders and schizophrenia and (or) psychotic
illness, even after accounting for mental disorder comorbidity. Suicide
attempts were independently associated with bisexuality, with odds 3 times
higher than in heterosexuals. Findings from our study emphasize the fact that
sexual orientation minorities are vulnerable to poor mental health outcomes,
including suicide attempts. Clinicians need to be aware of these specific
negative mental health consequences when assessing sexual orientation
minorities.
This paper is original research by
the author. The purpose of this study was to see the relationship of sexual
orientation and mental disorders and suicide attempts. All the data from this
study came from the National Epidemic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions,
or NESARC for short. NESARC conducted two waves of sampling the data used for
this study comes from wave 2 conducted in the years 2004 and 2005 in the United
States of America with a total of 34,653 respondents. In order to avoid
variables skewing the results they used a bivariate and multivariate model
which adjusted for sociodemographic variables, such as, age, martial status,
level of education, household income, race and ethnicity, region, and
urbanicity. Because of this this study has a 95% confidence interval. Out of
the 34,653 respondents only 2% identified as a sexual minority. Among those who
identified as a sexual minority 0.9% were homosexual, 0.6% reported as
bisexual, and 0.5% reported as unsure. More men than women identified as homosexual
with 60.3% of identified homosexuals being male, but more women than men
reported being bisexual with 67.2% of those reported as bisexuals being women.
The results of this survey correspond with the hypothesis of being a sexual
minority you have an increase rate of having a mental disorder and/or have a
higher rate of attempting suicide. Comparing gay men to heterosexual men, they
have a two times more likely chance to have a mental or mood disorder while
bisexual men had a much higher rate of having anxiety disorders and suicide
attempts. For women lesbians were 1.5 time more likely to have an anxiety
disorder while bisexual woman had a significantly higher odds of having all
mental disorders and suicide attempts.
Lourie, Michael A. and Belinda
L. Needham. 2017. "Sexual Orientation Discordance and
Young Adult Mental Health." Journal of Youth and Adolescence 46(5):943-54. Retrieved November 12, 2018
(http://byui.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/1886583697?accountid=9817).
doi: http://dx.doi.org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0553-8.
During
the course of sexual development, many people experience dissonance between
dimensions of sexual orientation, including attraction, behavior, and identity.
This study assesses the relationship between sexual orientation discordance and
mental health. Data were obtained from the National Longitudinal Study of
Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 8,915; female = 54.62 %; non-Hispanic black =
18.83 %, Hispanic = 14.91 %, other race (non-white) = 10.79 %). Multivariable
linear regression evaluated the correlation between sexual orientation
discordance and perceived stress and depressive symptomatology. Models were
stratified by sex and sexual identity. Among self-identified heterosexual
females and mostly heterosexual males, sexual orientation discordance predicted
significantly increased depressive symptomatology. No other subpopulation
demonstrated a significant correlation between sexual orientation discordance
and depressive symptomatology or perceived stress. The association between
sexual orientation discordance and depressive symptomatology suggests a link
between sexuality, self-concept, and mental health.
The purpose of this study is to see
what the relationship is between sexual orientation discordance and mental
health is. This study uses data from a long-term study conducted by the
National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult health (Add Health) that
were able to get a cohort of adolescent youth ranging from grades 7-12 back in
1994-1995. Their study conducted of waves of sampling with the 4th
wave being in 2008 with the age rang going from 24-32. The author of this paper
claims that sexuality is a life long development process and social salience
and that one’s sexual orientation is a critical component of one’s
self-concept, especially in adolescents. Past studies on this idea are few in
number so this there are not many other studies to back this one up. By the
time Add Health got to wave 4 they had 20,745 participants but only 8,915 were
eligible for this particular study on sexual orientation discordance. The
results from those 8,915 people were that those who had identified as
heterosexual showed significant less signs of sexual orientation discordance
compared to those of sexual minorities, with only 21.66% of heterosexual males,
22.24% of heterosexual females, 50% of sexual minority males and 47.47% of
sexual minority females showing signs of sexual discordance. With heterosexual
males who shows signs of sexual orientation discordance there was a significant
correlation of higher stress and depressive symptoms. With heterosexual females
who showed signs of sexual orientation discordance there was not a large
correlation between stress levels and depression symptoms. With the sexual
minorities the study showed that sexual orientation discordance has no effect
on mental health in males or females.
Russell, Stephen T. and
Kara Joyner. 2001. "Adolescent Sexual Orientaion and
Suicide Risk: Evidence from a National Study." American Journal
of Public Health 91(8):1276-81.
Retrieved November 12, 2018 (http://byui.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/215108195?accountid=9817).
Sexual
orientation has been a debated risk factor for adolescent suicidality over the
past 20 years. Russell and Joyner examine the link between sexual orientation
and suicidality. Their findings provide strong evidence that sexual minority
youth are more likely than their peers to think about and attempt suicide.
This article was published to look
at the relationship between same-sex orientation and the risk of suicide in the
youth in the USA. This paper uses data collected from the Add Health survey
wave 1 conducted in the united states. This was the first national survey to
ask both questions of sexual orientation and suicidality on the same survey.
The sample size for this survey was every single American high school, but only
134 high schools participated. Out of all the respondents only slightly more
than 12000 of them were able to be used for this study; 6,254 adolescent girls
and 5,686 adolescent boys provided complete information for both sexual
orientation and suicidality. This survey combines homosexuality and bisexuality
into one same-sex orientation for sake of convivence with correlation, and the
question had two parts; have you had a same-sex relationship and have you had a
same-sex attraction? Interestingly same sex attraction was reported higher in
males than females. Only 1.1% of boys and 2% of girls reported having a
same-sex relationship while 7.3% of boys and 5% of girls reported having a same
sex attraction. There was only a 0.5% overlap of the same people answering yes
on both questions. Interestingly same sex attraction was reported higher in
males than females. Females reported having more frequent suicidal thoughts and
suicide attempts than males. Out of the big number 458 youth reported having
attempted suicide. Out of that 458 15% of them reported having same sex
attractions or same-sex relationships. The youths that reported having a
same-sex orientation were significantly more likely to report having
suicidality factors and depression compared to their heterosexual peers.
Herek, Gregory M. and
Linda D. Garnets. 2007. "Sexual Orientation and Mental
Health." Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 3:353-75. Retrieved November 13, 2018 (https://www-annualreviews-org.byui.idm.oclc.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091510).
This
article provides an overview of current psychological research on mental health
and sexual orientation, as well as clinical practice with sexual minorities.
The historical context for current research questions and controversies is
described, and the findings of recent empirical research on psychological well-being
and distress among non-heterosexuals are summarized. The minority stress model
is used to frame a discussion of stressors unique to sexual minorities and to
consider their possible effects on psychological well-being. The possible
ameliorative effects of adopting a sexual orientation identity are examined,
followed by a discussion of how these ideas translate into contemporary
clinical work with sexual minority clients. The review concludes with a brief
discussion of priority areas for empirical research and clinical practice.
This study was conducted to see if
sexual orientation plays a direct role or not in signs of psychopathology or
psychological distress, depression, anxiety, or mood disorders. This paper
talks a lot about past studies conducted over this concept and how a lot of
them our false studies due to the fact that in the past same-sex attraction was
considered a mental illness, most past studies would get their information from
social stigmas and not empirical data. There are also not a lot of current
studies regarding this issue due to the risk of further stigmatizing
non-heterosexuals. This study collected data from a lot of different past
studies and surveys conducted over the years. In order to increase their sample
size this study combines all LBG adults into one non-heterosexual category.
Because of grouping all the non-heterosexuals together this can hinder or
obscure the information about intergroup differences in mental health. The
results of this of this study are interestingly different from other studies.
It shows that regardless of sexual orientation the majority of respondents do
not currently manifest heightened risk for psychopathological issues,
suicidality, substance use abuse, of psychical distress. Non-heterosexual adults
appeared to be at a greater risk than heterosexuals for anxiety and mood
disorders in both men and woman. Non-heterosexual adults compared to
heterosexual adults were more likely to report past suicidal ideation and
attempts. Self-reported suicidal ideation and attempts are more common in
non-heterosexuals. These studies have shown that men are more likely to be
susceptible to depression and anxiety. Although this study showed that non-heterosexuals’
function almost the same as heterosexuals they are still at a greater risk of
anxiety and depression.
Shilo, Guy and Riki
Savaya. 2011. "Effects of Family and Friend Support on
LGB Youths' Mental Health and Sexual Orientation Milestones." Family
Relations 60(3):318-30. Retrieved
November 13, 2018
(http://byui.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/875636280?accountid=9817).
doi: http://dx.doi.org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2011.00648.x.
This
study examined the effects of social support components and providers on mental
health and sexual orientation (SO) milestones of lesbian, gay, and bisexual
(LGB) youths. Data were collected on 461 self-identified LGB adolescents and
young adults. Family acceptance and support yielded the strongest positive
effect on self-acceptance of SO, whereas friends' support and acceptance
yielded the strongest positive effect on disclosure of SO. Family support had
the strongest negative effect on youth's mental distress, whereas friends' and
family support had the strongest positive effect on well-being. These findings
highlight the importance of the daily perceptions of LGB youth within social
and familial settings, indicating that both positive and negative aspects of
support affect youths' mental health and identity development. [PUBLICATION
ABSTRACT]
This study was conducted in Israel
and was done in order to investigate the differential effects of social support
and social acceptance by both family and heterosexual friends on LGB
adolescents’ and young adults’ acceptance disclosure of their sexual orientation
and their mental health. This study uses three sampling methods; youth groups,
online surveys, and snowballing. All studies that they gathered their data from
were approved by the Tel Aviv University and IGY Organization Institutional
Review Boards. At the end of it they collected data of 416 self-identified LBG
youth and young adults with 233 of them being male and 228 being female, with
the ages ranging from 16-23years old. 339 of them identified as homosexual,
either gay or lesbian, while 122 identified as bisexual. 416 of all those
sampled still lived at home with their parental units. All the sampling surveys
asked important sociodemographic questions in order to collect important data.
The results of this study are all collected in the means, standard deviations,
and correlations between all variables were collected and are shown in tables.
The data shows that high level of sexual orientation self-acceptance,
wellbeing, and support and acceptance from both family and friends, along with
moderate levels of mental distress and sexual orientation disclosure were
recorded. It was discovered from this
data that acceptance from both family and friends correlated significantly and
positively with participants’ well-being and significantly and negatively
affected participants’’ mental distress. Friends acceptance correlated
significantly and positively with both sexual orientation milestones, of
realization and disclosure. In contrast there was no effect on acceptance with
the age of disclosure.
Collier, Kate L., Henny
M. Bos, and Theo G. M. Sandfort. 2012. “Homophobic Name-Calling Among Secondary School
Students and Its Implications for Mental Health.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 42(3):363-75. Retrieved November 13, 2018 doi: http://dx.doi.org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10964-012-9823-2
Although
homophobic verbal victimization has been associated with negative mental health
outcomes, little actually is known about its general prevalence and
relationship to mental health among adolescents. In addition, the relationship
of homophobic name-calling to mental health in gender non-conforming
adolescents is not well understood. This study examined the relationship
between homophobic verbal victimization and mental health in adolescents,
accounting for their sexual orientation and level of gender non-conformity.
Survey data was collected from 513 adolescents (ages 11-17) who attended eight
schools in and around Amsterdam, the Netherlands; 56.7 % of the participating
adolescents were female and 11.1 % reported same-sex attractions. As
hypothesized, male adolescents and those with same-sex attractions were more
likely to report victimization from homophobic name-calling than were their
female and non-same-sex attracted peers. Contrary to expectations, homophobic
name-calling was not independently associated with psychological distress after
controlling for gender, sexual attractions, gender non-conformity, and other negative
treatment by peers. The hypothesis that homophobic name-calling would be more
strongly associated with psychological distress in male, same-sex attracted,
and gender non-conforming adolescents was also not supported. The results
suggest that same-sex attracted and gender non-conforming youth are
particularly vulnerable to homophobic name-calling, in the Netherlands as in
other contexts, but also that other forms of peer victimization may be more
strongly related to mental health. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
This study talks about the effects
on peer victimization, or bullying, but more specifically the peer
victimization effects that homophobic name-calling and its relationship to
mental health in a sample of adolescents surveyed in the Netherlands. This
study was conducted in the Netherlands secondary schools. This survey looked at
both genders of adolescents and those who have same sex-attraction in order to
see what groups are vulnerable to homophobic peer victimization and its
association with health outcomes. 72 secondary schools participated but still
had a low participation rate of only 519 students but only 513 of those were
able to be used for the sampling. With 56.7% female and 43.3% male with ages
from 11-17 years old. In the overall sample 11.1% reported, 11.3% of females
and 10.8% of all males. 47.2% of all participants were called homophobic names
by at least one source in the last 1 month. Males were 3.82 times more likely
to report it than females. Regardless of gender those who had same-sex attraction
were 2.34 times more likely than those who identified as heterosexual. As a
group same-sex attracted males reported the most incidents with 83.3%, then it
was heterosexual males with 62.6%, and then it was same-sex attraction females
with 48.3%, and finally it was heterosexual females with 31.2%. The effects of
peer victimization have been shown to be linked to low self-esteem, depression,
anxiety, and loneliest. Same-sex attraction and gender variables bot
independently were linked to amount of stress, but when you add homophobic name
calling stress factors were brought up significantly.
Toomey, Russell B. and
Stephen T. Russell. 2016. "The Role of Sexual Orientation in
School-Based Victimization A Meta-Analysis." Youth and Society 48(2):176-201. Retrieved November 13, 2018 (https://journals-sagepub-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/doi/pdf/10.1177/0044118X13483778).
School-based victimization is associated with poorer
developmental, academic, and health outcomes. This meta-analytic review
compared the mean levels of school-based victimization experienced by sexual
minority youth to those of heterosexual youth, and examined moderators of this
difference. Results from 18 independent studies (N = 56,752 participants)
suggest that sexual minority youth experience moderately higher levels of
school-based victimization compared to heterosexual youth (d = 0.33). This
effect varied by two study characteristics: the average effect size increased
over time and was larger in studies that had a greater proportion of male
participants. Results highlight the need for future research on school-based
victimization to include measures of sexual orientation and for interventions
to include a component that addresses sexual orientation.
This study is a meta-analytic review
of multiple past studies to answer the question in a quantitatively synthesize
the literature that comparatively examines the school-based victimization
experiences of sexual minority and heterosexual youth. It specifically looks to
see to if sexual minority youth experience a heightened level of school-based
victimization compared to their heterosexual peers. This study is a two-fold
study, so, another factor of this study is to see if there is a difference
between sexual minorities and heterosexuals when you factor in other variables
such as; age, race and ethnicity, gender, year of study, and measurement of
sexual orientation. Because it is a
meta-analytic review, they spent over a year gathering data from multiple
sources and past studies, they conducted their first wave of data collection in
February 2010 and their second wave in February 2011. By the end of all of
their data collection they use 18 different independent studies that were used
in 25 different reports. These independent studies were conducted between the
years 1993 and 2007. There was a total of 56,752 participants in all the
studies with the mean age being 18, males covered 50.26% with females covering
49.74% of the participants and most were Caucasian with 74.55% being white. 21.07%
of the participants were reported as being a sexual minority. The data
collected across the multiple studies shows that sexual minority youth are far
more likely to report peer victimization in school than their heterosexual
peers. This study would like to say that this is no way diminishes the
heterosexual victimizations. Agreeing with most other studies this study
concluded that the group at most risk are sexual minority males followed by
sexual minority females.
Cramer, Robert J.,
Jennifer C. Johnson, James W. Crosby, Craig E. Henderson, Amanda C. La Guardia,
and Caroline H. Stroud. 2016. "Personality, Coping and Mental Health
Among Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Community Members." Personality and Individual Differences 96:272-8. Retrieved November 13, 2018 (https://www-sciencedirect-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0191886915006595).
The present study makes one of the first attempts to
integrate personality, coping and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual
(LGB) community members. Specifically, active (i.e., seeking social support,
stopping unpleasant emotions, problem-focused coping/solving, and education/advocacy)
and passive (i.e., internalization, substance
use,
and detachment) coping styles were hypothesized to mediate the association
of personality
traits and mental health symptoms (i.e., depressive,
anxiety and general distress symptoms). Participants consisted of 336 LGB
outpatients from an urban community health clinic in the southwestern United
States. Results demonstrated that: (1) passive coping mediated the relationship
between Neuroticism and
mental health symptoms, (2) both active and passive coping mediated the
extraversion-mental health symptoms association, and (3) significant mediation
emerged via active coping for the association of conscientiousness and mental
health symptoms. Implications are discussed for clinical practice with LGB
persons, and the integration of personality, coping and mental health theory
and research.
This study starts off with the
preset knowledge of LGB people suffering worse mental health symptoms. The
purpose of this study is to synthesize understanding of the interplay between
character traits, coping styles, and mental health among LGB people. In order
to capture the role of personality this study used the Five-factor Model (FFM).
With the FFM there are five broad domains; neuroticism, extraversion, openness
to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. In order to get an
understanding of coping mechanism they used empirical coping literature to come
up with two different types of coping, an active (positive) and a passive
(avoidant) styles. Generally, an active type of coping is associated with
better mental health. The participants in this study were all self-identified
sexual minorities that totaled up to 336 individuals’ patients at Legacy
Community Health Services in Houston, Texas. The screening data required people
to self-identify as LGB, be 18 years or older, and possess a minimum 10th
grade reading level. Out of the 336 participants the mean age was 42.26, males
made up 71.7% while females made up 23.3%, male-to-females made up 2.4%,
female-to-male made up 0.6%, and 2.1% gave no answer on their gender. 41.4%
were Caucasian, 41.1% were African American, 8.3% were Hispanic, 3.6% were Mexican
American, 3.3% were biracial, 1.2% were other, 0.6% were Asian American, and
finally 0.6% gave no answer. 71.7% were taking prescription drugs while 20.2%
were not on any prescription drugs; 8% gave no answer. The results of this
study were slightly different from all past studies as it showed that females
had a significantly higher chance than males to have more stress or mental
illness symptoms. People who classified as neuroticism had a higher experience
of having mental health symptoms and had a higher chance to have an active
coping mechanism, while those who were classified as extraversion had both
active and passive coping traits. A high extraversion lead to the use of more
active and/or engaged coping mechanisms which in turn leads to lower mental
health symptoms. With higher level of conscientiousness, it was linked to have
fewer reports of psychiatric symptoms but no coping mechanism was associated
with this personality. The findings for both open to experience and
agreeableness were both so small they were marked as null findings.
Lewis, Nathaniel M. 2009. "Mental
Health in Sexual Minorities: Recent Indicators, Trends, And Their Relationships
to Place in North America And Europe."
Health & Place 15(4):1029-45. Retrieved November 13, 2018 (https://www-sciencedirect-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S1353829209000483).
This
meta-analysis featuring 12 national adult studies and 16 state/regional youth
studies of sexuality and mental health finds that sexual minorities—as a likely
consequence of place-contingent minority stress—experience mental health
outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation much more frequently
than their heterosexual counterparts. By interrogating the geographic
variations in the findings, such as high rates of poor mental health outcomes
in the United Kingdom, large gay-heterosexual disparities in the Netherlands,
and lower and improving rates of both outcomes and risk factors in Vermont and
British Columbia, this study asserts that policy regimes, health programming,
and the ways in which sexual minorities are constructed in places all
contribute to their mental health.
This study is a meta-analytic study of national
surveys conducted in four different countries from the years 1993-2006, the
four countries are the United States, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and
Australia. This study had 4 purposes going into this, (a) Because this field is
relatively new, it wanted to establish an informed “baseline” of all mental
health differentials between sexual minority and heterosexual individuals. (b)
it also wanted to provide a model of potential causal pathways and expected
mental health outcomes in which both existing and future ideographic studies
can be counted. (c) Inform future research of both the nomothetic variety and
the idiographic. (d) And finally, it wanted to reposition the mental health
field as an ally of gay rights movements by offering an impetus for
policymakers to further invest in health infrastructure such as anti-bullying
and anti-homophobic in schools and communities. I was unable to find an actual
number of amount of studies used in this study but they did say they only used
national surveys from the 4 nations listed above. The results focus only on
sexual minority men as they were all at the highest risk for bad mental health
for all past studies. The results, after collecting the data from those past
studies, is in agreeance with most of the past articles. 20-40% of sexual
minority men were more likely to have had experienced some type of mental disorder
within the past year. With depression, in all studies 8-13% of sexual minority
men suffered the effects of it while only 3-6% of heterosexual men suffered
from it. The prevalence of anxiety was higher for sexual minority men in all
studies compared to heterosexual men by 1.3-2 times as much. In all of the
studies, except for those collected from the Netherlands, show sexual minority
men are two or more times more likely to have ideate suicide than heterosexual
men. This study does have some limitations such as factoring in other
sociodemographic details.
Ueno, Koji. 2005. "Sexual
Orientation and Psychological Distress in Adolescence: Examining Interpersonal
Stressors and Social Support Processes." Social Psychology Quarterly 68(3):258-77. Retrieved November 13, 2018 (http://byui.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.byui.idm.oclc.org/docview/18881878104?accountid=9817 doi: http://dx.doi.org.byui.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/019027250506800305.
Adolescents
with homosexual and bisexual orientations have higher levels of psychological
distress than other adolescents. Drawing from previous studies, I hypothesize
that this epidemiological pattern is due largely to the interpersonal problems
that sexual minorities experience at home and at school. Analysis of
longitudinal data based on a nationally representative sample showed that
sexual minorities in fact experienced more problems with their parents and
peers at school; these factors explained a moderate portion of the gap in
distress level between sexual minorities and other adolescents. Adolescent
friendships in general tend to develop within groups of individuals who share
social backgrounds, but this pattern did not apply to sexual orientation;
sexual minorities were not connected closely with each other at school. When
they knew each other, however, their friendships reduced psychological distress
and protected them from the psychological harm associated with interpersonal
problems. I use these findings to discuss unique aspects of adolescent sexual
orientation as a dimension of social inequality, focusing on implications for
coping behaviors and mental health outcomes.
The author of this paper conducted
this study to compare the difference with mental health between sexual minority
and majority adolescents. This study collects data from the National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). A multistage stratified
sampling method was used to select respondents. The sample was stratified by
gender and grade level. They used in-home surveys. The finale sample sized
included 12,579 respondents with roughly half being male and the other half
being female. The surveys measured multiple factors such as, psychological distress,
sexual orientation, interpersonal stressors, emotional attachment and number of
friends and attachment to parents. The results for this study showed that
sexual minorities were more likely to be nonwhite, male, be older, and live in
a single-parent household. Sexual minorities reported a higher level of
distress. Although the difference between sexual minorities and majorities was
statistically significant, it was relatively small due to that of standard
deviation was 6.33. Sexual minorities were more likely to argue with their
parents and trouble with peers and with school. Sexual minorities were also
less closely attached to parents and school. Their level of attachment to
friends was equal to heterosexual adolescents. Sexual minorities were also associated
with higher levels of psychological distress.
While conducting my research on this
paper I was glad that I picked the topic that I did, because through out the
processes of researching I was personally invested. It is easier to be able to
continue looking for good peer reviewed articles over the subject of sexual
orientation and its relationship to mental health. I was able to find plenty of
articles regarding this issue as plenty of studies have been conducted these
pasts few decades.
Through out conducting this
annotated bibliography I was able to notice multiple patterns. In almost every
study I looked at those who were identified as a sexual minority have more
stress, anxiety, and suffered from the effects of depression and other
psychotic issues compared to heterosexuals. But most were able to acknowledge
that this does in no way diminish the mental health of heterosexuals. Another
pattern that was in every study I looked at, except for one exception, the
sexual minority males were at the most risk of negative mental heath effects.
After the sexual minority males, the patter went; sexual minority females,
heterosexual males, and lastly heterosexual females. Other such factors such as
other sociographical factors come in to play to effect peoples’ mental health. Interestingly,
every studied that I reviewed that took age of sexual orientation realization
into account males, on average, always come to the conclusion before females.
And, males were more at risk for suicide thoughts and attempts and depression
while females were more at risk for anxiety and other mood disorders. Yet
another pattern that I noticed in all studies that separated the sexual
minorities into groups (LGB) is that the homosexual groups, gay and lesbian,
were always more at risk for suicide and depression while those who were
identified as bisexual were at greater risk for anxiety and mood disorders.
Going into this study I only had one
question; what is the correlation between sexual orientation and mental health.
However, after conducting this review on studies it did leave me with a few
other questions. One question that I now have is, what is the proportional
difference between the population between sexual minorities and majorities. The
reason I am left with this question is because in a lot of the studies I
reviewed the biggest limitation was a small sample size of sexual minorities.
Another question that I have is how much does minority theory come into play
with sexual minorities and mental health. In the majority of studies, I
reviewed they mentioned minority theory as their leading explanation for the
great effects of negative mental health in sexual minorities. And lastly, I am
curious over the reason why certain sub groups are more at risk for certain
mental health issues; what social factors set certain groups at higher risks
than others and also why males realize before females their sexual orientation.
One question that I would be interested in knowing the answer too but not as
curious as the past questions is why do homosexuals suffer depression and
suicide attempts more than bisexuals and why bisexuals suffer from anxiety and
mood disorders more so than homosexuals.
In the studies that I reviewed there
were a couple things that I found to be missing. One of the main things missing
in most studies was a big sampling size of sexual minorities. Due to either low
participation or low sexual minority identification a lot of the time that
sexual minority participants were too low to be stratified into smaller groups.
Another thing missing from most studies is ways to improve the negative mental
health effects that sexual minorities suffer from, which makes sense to me
because these papers are all studies based off empirical data where the purpose
it to just show the data, not what to do with it.
With this topic that I picked there
are not many current debates that I found when it comes to empirical data. Most
of the debates on the effects sexual orientation has on mental health from
societal factors on why the data shows what it does. In every study it showed
that sexual minorities suffer from greater effects of negative mental health,
but people still debate on why the data shows that. Another debate that I found
is if these studies should even be down. The argument for this debate steams
from the idea that by conducting these studies it can further stigmatize sexual
minorities which could cause more discrimination and stereotypes to form over
sexual minorities.
Comments
Post a Comment