INTRODUCTION
Individuals who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, or 2-Spirited+ (LGBTQ2+) experience pervasive barriers to participating in society and are often targets of discrimination. In parallel to this, women tend to experience socially-enforced disadvantages around their gender identity. Finally, negative social interactions describe the frequency in which an individual experiences adversity during social participation.
PURPOSE
Using a lens of Minority Stress Theory (the idea that multiple minority identities compound health vulnerabilities) the current study explored whether gender identity, LGBTQ2+ identity, and negative social experiences, interacted with one another. I hypothesized that LGBTQ2+ individuals would report lower health, and individuals with multiple marginalized identities (e.g., LGBTQ2+ and being a woman) would have the lowest health.
METHOD
The 2022 Mental Health and Access to Care Survey is a nationally representative survey collected by Canada's federal statistics agency. It contained a large number of clinical outcomes that followed World Health Organization - Composite International Diagnostic Interview criteria, these included distress, alcohol abuse/dependence, bipolar disorder, depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, social phobia, and cannabis abuse/dependence. Using a series of weighted regression models representing more than 20,000,000 respondents, I explored my research question.
RESULTS
Key findings were: 1). LTBTQ2+ individuals report significantly higher levels of negative social interactions relative to non-LGBTQ2+. 2). Negative social interactions impacted LGBTQ2+ individuals more profoundly; 3). LGBTQ2+ individuals tended to report poorer health outcomes. 4). LGBTQ2+ Women were particularly vulnerable to NSI - it dramatically increased the predicted probability of experiencing distress, depression, suicidal thoughts, and social phobia; and 5). LGBTQ2+ Men were more vulnerable to cannabis abuse/addiction.
CONCLUSION
My work was broadly supportive of Minority Stress Theory, although it did not emerge in all cases (notably cannabis abuse/dependence). It is important to understand how multiple marginalized identities of an individual may interact to shape that person's health and wellness.