At a time when lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) dividuals are an creasgly open, acknowledged, and visible part of society, clicians and rearchers are faced wh plete rmatn about the health stat of this muny. Although a most body of knowledge on LGBT health has been veloped over the last two s, much remas to be explored. What is currently known about LGBT health? Where do gaps the rearch this area exist? What are the prri for a rearch agenda to addrs the gaps? This report aims to answer the qutns.
Contents:
- MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) YOUTH
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
- INTRODUCTN TO LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUEER (LGBTQ) HISTORY THE UNED STAT
MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR (LGBT) YOUTH
Published fal eded form as:PMCID: PMC4887282NIHMSID: NIHMS789458AbstractToday’s lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) youth e out at younger ag, and public support for LGBT issu has dramatilly creased, so why do LGBT youth ntue to be at high risk for promised mental health?
Keywords: LGBT, sexual orientatn, genr inty, youthINTRODUCTIONIn the perd of only two s, there has been dramatic emergence of public and scientific awarens of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) liv and issu. This awarens n be traced to larger soccultural shifts unrstandgs of sexual and genr inti, cludg the emergence of the “gay rights” movement the 1970s and the advent of HIV/AIDS the 1980s.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
Yet the first public and rearch attentn to young LGBTs foced explicly on mental health: A small number of studi the 1980s began to intify ncerng rat of reported suicidal behavr among “gay” youth, and a US feral report on “gay youth suici” (Gibson 1989) beme ntroversial both polics and rearch (Rsell 2003).
INTRODUCTN TO LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUEER (LGBTQ) HISTORY THE UNED STAT
Most of the knowledge base has foced on sexual inti (and historilly mostly on gay and lbian inti), wh much ls empiril study of mental health among transgenr or genr-nonnformg youth. Historil trends social acceptance the Uned Stat show, for example, that 43% of US adults agreed that “gay or lbian relatns between nsentg adults should be legal” 1977; by 2013 that number had grown to 66% (Gallup 2015). 2014) sum, chang societal acceptance of LGBT people have ma g out possible for ntemporary youth, yet the age of g out now tersects wh the velopmental perd characterized by potentially tense terpersonal and social regulatn of genr and sexualy, cludg homophobia.
We then highlight studi that foc on factors that protect and foster rilience among LGBT to the 1970s, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s (APA’s) Diagnostic and Statistil Manual of Mental Disorrs (DSM) listed homosexualy as a “socpathic personaly disturbance” (Am. 1948, 1953) and psychologil parisons between heterosexual and gay men (Hooker 1957) fostered a change attus om the psychologil muny and motivated the APA’s removal of homosexualy as a mental disorr 1973 (although all ndns related to same-sex attractn were not removed until 1987).
Over the past 50 years, the psychologil disurse regardg same-sex sexualy shifted om an unrstandg that homosexualy was trsilly lked wh poor mental health toward unrstandg the social termants of LGBT mental health. Generally, Meyer (2003) poss three strs procs om distal to proximal: (a) objective or external strsors, which clu stctural or stutnalized discrimatn and direct terpersonal teractns of victimizatn or prejudice; (b) one’s expectatns that victimizatn or rejectn will occur and the vigilance related to the expectatns; and (c) the ternalizatn of negative social attus (often referred to as ternalized homophobia). Conceptual mol of ntextual fluenc on lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) youth mental health and associated implitns for polici, programs, and practice.