Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Objectives: Previous research has examined the link between discrimination and health in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender (LGBT) individuals. The purpose of this study was to examine if health-promoting variables, like social networks, might disrupt this association. Method: Participants were 2,560 LGBT older adults who reported on the composition of their social network, level of discrimination, stress, and health/well-being. Results: Moderated mediation results indicated that social network size disrupted the associations between discrimination, stress, and health outcomes when social networks were (a) larger and (b) comprised of LGBT individuals (but not straight individuals), regardless of age. Discussion: Larger social networks that include fellow LGBT individuals helped buffer experiences of stress and discrimination on health outcomes among LGBT older adults. Implications for how protective factors can reduce the negative effects of discrimination and stress are discussed.

Keywords

LGBT social networks health discrimination stress

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Brown

G. R.

Jones

K. T.

(2016). Mental health and medical health disparities in 5135 transgender veterans receiving healthcare in the veterans health administration: A case-control study. LGBT Health, 3(2), 122–131.

Chae

D. H.

Ayala

(2010). Sexual orientation and sexual behavior among Latino and Asian Americans: Implications for unfair treatment and psychological distress. Journal of Sex Research, 47(5), 451–459.

Cochran

S. D.

Sullivan

J. G.

Mays

V. M.

(2003). Prevalence of mental disorders, psychological distress, and mental health services use among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in the United States. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71(1), 53–61.

Conron

K. J.

Mimiaga

M. J.

Landers

S. J.

(2010). A population-based study of sexual orientation identity and gender differences in adult health. American Journal of Public Health, 100(10), 1953–1960.

Diamant

A. L.

Wold

(2003). Sexual orientation and variation in physical and mental health status among women. Journal of Women’s Health, 12(1), 41–49.

Diener

Emmons

R. A.

Larsen

R. J.

Griffin

(1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.

Dilley

J. A.

Simmons

K. W.

Boysun

M. J.

Pizacani

B. A.

Stark

M. J.

(2010). Demonstrating the importance and feasibility of including sexual orientation in public health surveys: Health disparities in the Pacific Northwest. American Journal of Public Health, 100(3), 460–467.

Feinstein

B. A.

Goldfried

M. R.

Davila

(2012). The relationship between experiences of discrimination and mental health among lesbians and gay men: An examination of internalized homonegativity and rejection sensitivity as potential mechanisms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80(5), 917–927.

Fredriksen-Goldsen

K. I.

Kim

H.-J

. (2017). Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study, 2010 NHAS Cross-sectional Survey - Public Data, Data Description Ver. 1.0., Healthy Generations, Seattle, WA, USA: Hartford Center of Excellence, University of Washington.

10.

Fredriksen-Goldsen

K. I.

Kim

H.-J.

Barkan

S. E.

Muraco

Hoy-Ellis

C. P.

(2013). Health disparities among lesbian, gay, and bisexual older adults: Results from a population-based study. American Journal of Public Health, 103(10), 1802–1809.

11.

Fredriksen-Goldsen

K. I.

Kim

H.-J.

Muraco

Mincer

(2009). Chronically ill midlife and older lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals and their informal caregivers: The impact of the social context. Sexuality Research and Social Policy Journal of NSRC, 6(4), 52–64.

12.

Fredriksen-Goldsen

K. I.

Simoni

J. M.

Kim

H.-J.

Lehavot

Walters

K. L.

Yang

. . . Muraco

(2014). The health equity promotion model: Reconceptualization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health disparities. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 84(6), 653–663.

13.

Grossman

A. H.

D’Augelli

A. R.

Hershberger

S. L.

(2000). Social support networks of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults 60 years of age and older. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences, 55(3), P171–P179.

14.

Hatzenbuehler

M. L.

(2009). How does sexual minority stigma “get under the skin”? A psychological mediation framework. Psychological Bulletin, 135(5), 707–730.

15.

Hayes

A. F.

(2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press.

16.

LGBT Data and Demographics. (2019). LGBT demographic data interactive. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/visualization/lgbt-stats/?topic=LGBT#about-the-data

17.

Marchiondo

L. A.

Gonzales

Williams

L. J.

(2017). Trajectories of perceived workplace age discrimination and long-term associations with mental, self-rated, and occupational health. The Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences, 74(4), 655–663.

18.

Meyer

I. H.

(2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674–697.

19.

Radloff

L. S.

(1977). The CES-D Scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3), 385–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306

20.

Reygan

Henderson

(2019). All bad? Experiences of aging among LGBT elders in South Africa. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 88(4), 405–421.

21.

Riggle

E. D.

Rostosky

S. S.

Horne

S. G.

(2010). Psychological distress, well-being, and legal recognition in same-sex couple relationships. Journal of Family Psychology, 24(1), 82–86.

22.

Szymanski

D. M.

Chung

Y. B.

Balsam

K. F.

(2001). Psychosocial correlates of internalized homophobia in lesbians. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 34(1), 27–38.

23.

Vaccaro

Newman

B. M.

(2016). Development of a sense of belonging for privileged and minoritized students: An emergent model. Journal of College Student Development, 57(8), 925–942.

24.

Wallace

S. P.

Cochran

S. D.

Durazo

E. M.

Ford

C. L.

(2011). The health of aging lesbian, gay and bisexual adults in California. UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.42 MB

The Effect of Social Network Size and Composition on the Link Between Discrimination and Health Among Sexual Minorities

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material