The Health Challeng of Emergg Adult Gay Men Effectg Change Health Care - PMC

Contents:

• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HEALTH
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH
• THE HEALTH CHALLENG OF EMERGG ADULT GAY MEN EFFECTG CHANGE HEALTH CARE
• MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENG OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE: AN TEGRATED LERATURE REVIEW
• HEALTH PROBLEMS OF GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU

There are a few optns for gay men and bisexual men same-sex relatnships who aspire to have children, cludg surrogacy, where sperm is ed to fertilize a donated egg, which is then rried to term by a surrogate mother. "In parison to their straight peers, LGBTQ+ dividuals experience unique strsors such as bullyg, harassment, fear of rejectn, ternalized homophobia, body image distrs, barriers to accsg medil and mental health treatment, and vlence, " Sydney Brour-Johnson, PhD, senr director for clil servic at the Veras Collaborative Dunwoody, Ga., told Health. ”10 Exampl of sexual inty clu gay, lbian, heterosexual, bisexual, pansexual (ie, a person’s attractn toward people regardls of their sex or genr inty), and asexual (ie, a lack of sexual attractn to others).

1–2), “homosexualy as practiced by the Athenians was not about an inty, muny, or movement; rather, was part of a larger syndrome which clud men’s ways of relatg to boys, wiv, urtans, prostut, and other sexual partners, and, a larger sense, to both the people of Athens and to the other cy-stat. 14-16 Inherently, beg gay is different om beg bisexual or pansexual, although the sexual behavr may be the same, the feelgs and salience n be que addn, the umbrella term LGBTQ is limed nsiratns of health and health re for this populatn recently timated to nstute approximately 4.

For example, would be aquate and false to state that HIV is a health dispary that disproportnately affects the LGBTQ populatn; rather, is a health dispary the Uned Stat that overwhelmgly burns gay and bisexual men and transgenr women, 19 who are part, but not the totaly, of the LGBTQ is wh this ia md that the thors further ntextualize the ias prented the pag to follow. In particular, the thors nsir the health challeng faced by gay men who are emergg adults, regnizg that is durg this perd that a vast majory of gay men emerge to their sexual inti, 13, 20 and that this velopmental perd is often ght wh risk behavrs21 that might impact the health profile of the men the immediate and set the foundatn for health issu across the life urse.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR HEALTH

22ADOLESCENCE AND EMERGING ADULTHOOD IN GAY MENThe psychologist Jefey Art (2000) nceptualized the velopmental state of emergg adulthood to differentiate the perd between adolcence and adulthood, which, Wtern dtrialized natns, enpass approximately ag 18 to 25. More recently, the perd has been expand to age 29 so as to pture mographic and tnal shifts and also due to the fancial reali of Millennials, cludg Millennial gay men, brought about by the enomic crash of 2008 to 2009. 28For gay men, the perd of emergg adulthood is a highly vulnerable perd which the nfluence of sexual risk takg, dg e, mental health burn, rceratn, and other risk ndns, 29-31 precipated by experienc of homophobia and discrimatn32, 33 om society at large, as well as racism and hegemonic notns of masculy wh the gay populatn, 13 promise health and well-beg that may last throughout adulthood.

38 Although the provisn of re for emergg adult gay men has improved relative to past generatns of gay men, who were pathologized due to their sexual inty beg tegorized as a mental illns, visible to health re provirs bee of fear of discrimatn, or neglected bee they were afflicted wh AIDS, the ndns are still far om ial.

39HEALTH CHALLENGES FACED BY YOUNG AND EMERGING ADULT GAY MENThe emergence of the AIDS epimic the later twentieth century engenred an unprecented public health foc on the health and health re needs of gay men.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH

40 Acrdgly, a wave of bmedil and social science emerged that clearly monstrated the extent to which gay men, cludg emergg adult gay men, are disproportnally affected by a host of health-related challeng relative to their heterosexual peers. 37, 41Health dispari among young and emergg adult gay men are well-documented37, 41; however, the mechanisms and pathways (eg, blogil, psychologil, and/or soclogic mediators) lkg sexual orientatn to differential health out rema poorly unrstood.

THE HEALTH CHALLENG OF EMERGG ADULT GAY MEN EFFECTG CHANGE HEALTH CARE

That is, addn to general life strsors, emergg adult gay men experience qualatively unique social strsors bee of their sexualy, which accumulate to negatively impact the health profile of this populatn. For stance, relative to young heterosexual men, young gay or sexual mory men are signifintly more likely to experience childhood victimizatn (eg, parental psychologil and physil abe), 45, 46 school-based/peer victimizatn, 47 low levels of parental support, 48 and forced homelsns bee of their sexualy. 49 As such, the health challeng and equali addrsed this article are not ally related to homosexualy or gayns, but, stead, are the reflectn of nox social ndns (eg, social margalizatn, excln, and stctural stigmatizatn) that work ncert to rro the health profile of young and emergg adult gay men.

For stance, a systematic review of mental health disorrs and sexual orientatn, Kg and lleagu68 documented that, across studi, gay men evinced greater risk for lifetime prevalence of suici attempts, lifetime prevalence of prsn, and lifetime prevalence of anxiety relative to heterosexuals. Although many emergg adult gay men may stggle wh adverse mental health out and rced psychologil well-beg, is cril to note that certa subpopulatns (ie, those who are multiply disadvantaged bee of tersectg margalized inti) may be more at risk than others. 70-72 As such, emergg adult gay men om lower SES backgrounds may evince signifintly fewer social and psychologil rourc wh which to manage general and mory strsors, thereby amplifyg the risk of adverse mental health out.

MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENG OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE: AN TEGRATED LERATURE REVIEW

Holistilly, the data highlight the gree to which young and emergg adult gay men are sceptible to adverse mental health out; however, clicians mt realize that the sceptibily is not uniform across subpopulatns of gay men. 19 For example, a meta-analysis of US populatn-based surveys, disease rat of HIV (38–75 tim as high) and primary and sendary syphilis (63–109 tim as high) were signifintly higher for gay men, relative to other men. 74 In addn to HIV and syphilis, gay men are disproportnally burned by other sexually transmted fectns (STIs), 77 such as bacterial STIs (eg, chlamydia and gonorrhea), 78 human papillomavis, 79, 80 Hepatis B and C, 81, 82 and herp simplex vis (HSV)-2.

HEALTH PROBLEMS OF GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

88 Ined, adolcent gay men are signifintly more likely to engage behavrs that amplify lifetime ncer risk and have long-term physil health nsequenc relative to heterosexual men, such as smokg, nsumg alhol, g illic dgs, engagg risky sexual behavrs, reportg ltle physil activy, and nsumg a diet low us and vegetabl. 87 As Rosar and lleagu87 highlight, many of the health and ncer-related risk behavrs emerge early the life urse of sexual mory men (ie, adolcence), effectively creasg lifetime ncer risk among certa subpopulatns of gay men due to earlier engagement ncer-related risk addn to behavral risk factors, gay men have been documented to report lower levels of perceived physil health and higher rat of adverse physil health out. However, the precedg data offer prelimary support for the extent to which sexual orientatn may be a robt predictor of physil health out and, th, a clil foc on gay men’s physil health is CARE CHALLENGESThe myriad health challeng faced by emergg adult gay men are magnified due to hardships accsg aquate and petent health re that serv the unique needs of this populatn.