Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Queer intified People and Mental Health

Contents:

• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANS & QUEER INTIFIED PEOPLE AND MENTAL HEALTH
• MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENG OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENR PEOPLE: AN TEGRATED LERATURE REVIEW
• STRONG MUNY BELONGG MORAT POOR MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL DIVIDUALS LIVG CANADA: AN TERSECTNAL ANALYSIS OF A NATNAL POPULATN-BASED SURVEY

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANS & QUEER INTIFIED PEOPLE AND MENTAL HEALTH

Based Halifax, Nova Stia, the Lbian Gay Bisexual Youth Project aims to liver programs and create rourc to crease unrstandg of the unique mental health challeng, and specific anti-Black barriers for Black LGBTQI+ youth. The Lbian Gay Bisexual Youth Project (The Youth Project) provis support, tn, rource expansn and muny velopment to make Nova Stia a safer, healthier and happier place for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr youth.

Although lbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer intified (LGBTQ) people are as diverse as the general Canadian populatn their experienc of mental health and well-beg, they face higher risks for some mental health issu due to the effects of discrimatn and the social termants of health. For example, LGBTQ people may experience other forms of margalizatn – such as racism, sexism, poverty or other factors – alongsi homophobia or transphobia that negatively impact on mental health.

Lbian, gay and bisexual dividuals are more likely to experience prsn, anxiety, suicidaly and substance abe than their heterosexual 1Note 2Note 3Note 4Note 5Note 6Note 7Note 8Note 9Note 10Note 11Note 12 Social strs experienced sexual mory populatns, such as stigma, prejudice and discrimatn, addn to ternalized feelgs of negativy and expectatns of rejectn, are thought to be part of the explanatn for the differenc risk for mental 1. Sexual orientatn rearch has been asssed on the basis of sexual behavur, sexual attractn, or self-inty—each of the three ncepts yieldg slightly different prevalence 20Note 21Note 22Note 23 Inty refers to dividuals’ social inty, such as whether they nsir themselv to be heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual.

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

Sexual orientatn was asssed by askg rponnts aged 15 and olr whether they nsired themselv to be heterosexual (sexual relatns wh people of the oppose sex), homosexual, that is, lbian or gay (sexual relatns wh people of your own sex), or bisexual (sexual relatns wh people of both sex).

Bisexual women were more likely to have self-intified as Indigeno than their heterosexual unterparts, but the small sample did not allow for examg differenc Indigeno inty between gay and bisexual men and lbians, and heterosexuals. When both sex were bed, was found that heterosexuals were ls likely to have been diagnosed wh a mood or anxiety disorr or to have experienced suici iatn the prev 12 months than bisexual, gay or lbian dividuals (Table 3). Some socmographic differenc between gay, lbian and bisexual dividuals, and heterosexuals, uld be ntributg factors to mental health and 33 Bisexual dividuals tend to be younger and of lower socenomic stat, and were more often women.

In particular, the lower odds of plete mental health for gay men than for heterosexual men persisted when the mol was adjted for socmographic characteristics and physil health (data not shown), but was no longer signifint wh the addn of maral stat. This is nsistent wh prev studi that have found bisexual dividuals have poorer mental health out than both heterosexual and gay or lbian 1Note 7Note 9Note 11Note 12 Evince also suggts that bisexual women may have paratively worse mental health out than their homosexual and heterosexual unterparts than is the se for bisexual 11 Prevalence of mental disorrs, flourishg mental health, and odds rats for plete mental health this study also support the notn that out are worse for bisexual women than bisexual men. On the one hand, discrimatn toward bisexual dividuals om monosexual (heterosexual, gay, lbian) dividuals, as well as the visibily of bisexualy society and the lack of a muny that provis bisexual-affirmative support have been theorized to be addnal ntributg factors related to poorer mental health out for this 1Note 11Note 36.

STRONG MUNY BELONGG MORAT POOR MENTAL HEALTH LBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL DIVIDUALS LIVG CANADA: AN TERSECTNAL ANALYSIS OF A NATNAL POPULATN-BASED SURVEY

On the other hand, lbian, gay or bisexual inty may provi opportuni for group affiliatn, social support and pg rourc that uld unteract the effect of strs rultg om sexual mory inty and foster posive mental 1Note 37 Consequently, the relatnship between sexual mory inty and posive mental health may be morated by posive aspects of group inty. In particular, an unwillgns to disclose sexual orientatn on a survey may rult misclassifitn 38 Addnally, sexual orientatn inti beyond heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual were not ascertaed, and “other” was not a rponse tegory.

Keywords: LGBT, mental health dispari, discrimatn, stigmatisatn, victimisatnIntroductnThe acronym LGBTQ (also LGBTQAP+, LGBTQA, GLBTIQ, LGBT, LGBTQ and other alternat) is an umbrella term that stands for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex, and queer or qutng people. This acronym has s origs the shorter versn lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT), which vers a heterogeneo group of LGBT people who often feature together as a group efforts to ga better social reprentatn and more polil support (Salmen 2015:11).

The LGBT dividuals have unique experienc that are shaped by multiple factors, such as race/ethnicy, soc-enomic stat, geographil lotn and age, not jt sexual orientatn (Farmer & Yancu 2015:37) lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people differ om ‘tradnal’ mori two aspects: (1) they are not necsarily regnisable through physil characteristics and (2) they are still perceived many ntexts as actg agast natural procs (Takács 2015:10). The people suffer om var forms of soc-enomic and cultural jtic, but mostly they feel they are nied regnn, meang that heterosexualy is privileged and homosexualy is valuated (Takács 2015:9). The belief that other sexual orientatns are abnormal or ferr to heterosexualy is a source of opprsn, rultg heterosexism and homophobic attus, creatg a hostile climate for LGBT people (Mostert, Gordon & Kriegler 2015:116; Salmen 2015:11).