Gay men’s strs rponse to a general and a specific social strsor - PMC

Contents:

• UNRSTANDG THE OF STRS ON HEALTH OF GAY OR LBIAN ADOLCENTS
• GAY MEN’S STRS RPONSE TO A GENERAL AND A SPECIFIC SOCIAL STRSOR
• GAY MEN’S STRS RPONSE TO A GENERAL AND A SPECIFIC SOCIAL STRSOR
• GAY COMMUNY STRS SEXUAL MORY MEN AND WOMEN: A VALIDATN STUDY THE NETHERLANDS
• THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND GAY INTY THE STRS PROCS OF A SAMPLE OF CSIAN GAY MEN

UNRSTANDG THE OF STRS ON HEALTH OF GAY OR LBIAN ADOLCENTS

If you’re lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, or queer(LGBTQ) or are explorg your sexual orientatn or genr inty, and you stggle wh anxiety or prsn, let’s start by puttg thgs to ntext. The majory of gay and bisexual men have and mata good mental health, even though rearch has shown that they are at greater risk for mental health problems.

However, ongog homophobia, stigma (negative and ually unfair beliefs), and discrimatn (unfairly treatg a person or group of people) n have negative effects on your health.

GAY MEN’S STRS RPONSE TO A GENERAL AND A SPECIFIC SOCIAL STRSOR

Keepg your sexual orientatn hidn om others (beg “ the closet”) and fear of havg your sexual orientatn disclosed (beg “outed”) n add to the strs of beg gay or bisexual. In general, rearch has shown that gay and bisexual men who are open about their sexual orientatn wh others have better health out than gay and bisexual men who do not.

However, beg “out” some settgs and to people who react negatively n add to the strs experienced by gay and bisexual men, and n lead to poorer mental health and discrimatn.

Mental health unselg and support groups that are sensive to the needs of gay and bisexual men n be pecially eful if you are g to terms wh your sexual orientatn or are experiencg prsn, anxiety, or other mental health problems.

GAY MEN’S STRS RPONSE TO A GENERAL AND A SPECIFIC SOCIAL STRSOR

While many gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex wh men may not seek re om a mental health provir bee of a fear of discrimatn or homophobia, is important to keep this as an optn and to fd a provir that is tstworthy and patible. Sce has not yet been termed whether gay-specific strs is more nox than general strs, we tted whether gay men react more strongly to gay-specific socially strsful stimuli than to general socially strsful stimuli.

6% of whom were a relatnship wh a man, participated an experimental wh-group study, which they were exposed to the Trier Social Strs Tt (TSST) as well as a gay-specific TSST a randomized orr. Given that the rponse to a gay-specific social strsor was equally pronounced as the one to a general social strsor, programs aimg to crease mory strs but overlookg general strs are likely to yield only partial improvements gay men’s mental health.

Instead, we suggt helpg gay men pe wh both forms of strs through buildg social support, assertivens, and mdfulns skills, as well as creasg emotnal dysregulatn.

GAY COMMUNY STRS SEXUAL MORY MEN AND WOMEN: A VALIDATN STUDY THE NETHERLANDS

2016) (2003) suggted that gay men experience gay-specific strsors, also lled mory strsors, which expla mental and physil health differenc pared to heterosexual men.

In the current study, we be the psychoblogil and psychosocial perspectiv on strs, takg to acunt both physlogil as well as perceived strs an experimental study, lbians, gay men, and bisexual (LGB) dividuals were exposed to an LGB-related versn of the Trier Social Strs Tt (TSST) (Kirschbm et al.

Another laboratory study g the origal versn of the TSST found that gay and bisexual men showed a lower overall salivary rtisol ncentratn om basele to post-TSST than did heterosexual men (Jter et al. The overall fdgs th dite that gay men have normal diurnal rtisol patterns, but when exposed to an acute strsor, they exhib hyportisolism, a factor associated wh allostatic load (Fri et al. A study targetg HIV-seroposive gay and bisexual men, who due to HIV tend to have dimished levels of ttosterone, found that a gnive-behavral strs management terventn led not only to rced distrs but also to an crease ee ttosterone the blood, which was turn related to a crease anxiety and prsive symptoms (Cs et al.

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND GAY INTY THE STRS PROCS OF A SAMPLE OF CSIAN GAY MEN

However, we are unaware of any studi that have tted for ttosterone chang rponse to an acute strsor gay objective of our study was to pare how gay men rpond to general and gay-specific strsors and whether the strs rpons differ.

We expect that:(1) Compared to their rponse to an (acute) general strsor, gay men will show a blunted direct rponse to an (acute) gay-related strsor wh rpect to salivary rtisol, salivary ttosterone, and perceived strs; (2) gay men will show lower overall levels of salivary rtisol, salivary ttosterone, and perceived strs throughout the whole ssn when exposed to an (acute) gay-related strsor as pared to an (acute) general strsor. MethodsParticipantsThe data for the prent study were llected as part of the project “Psychoblogil Consequenc of Discrimatn for Gay Men” at the Universy of Marburg, Germany. The subjects received 32 Euros for participatg the full study or— the se of droppg out—8 Euros for every hour study’s cln creria were: (1) intifyg as a gay man, (2) age 18 years or olr, and (3) havg at least one experience of gay-related discrimatn.