The Current Status of Sociopolitical and Legal Issues Facing Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Ramos ◽  
Alexis Burgess ◽  
Elizabeth Ollen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Minority Stress ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Gender Minority ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minority ◽  
And Gender

Background: Adolescents today have unprecedented and uninterrupted access to news and current events through broadcast and social media. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) adolescents may be especially cognizant of media and public discourse pertaining to law and policy changes affecting the legal rights of their communities. The minority stress framework explains how sociopolitical discourse impacts mental health among sexual and gender minority youths. Objectives: This paper identifies and describes contemporary sociopolitical and legal issues that may impact LGBTQ adolescents’ mental health. Methods: Authors describe the minority stress framework as applied to gender and sexual identity and explore key sociopolitical and legal topics relevant to LGBTQ adolescents, including employment; medical care bans; health insurance coverage; conversion therapy; religious exemptions in health care; housing rights; and rights in schools and school districts, including participation in sports. Results: LGBTQ youth experience rejection, prejudice, and discrimination directly through adverse legislative or administrative action and more pervasively through the dominant cultural beliefs and sociopolitical messaging that such developments manifest. Conclusion: Mental health clinicians who are aware of legal issues and sociopolitical debate pertinent to LGBTQ rights are better prepared to address their significant impact on LGBTQ adolescents’ mental health.

scholarly journals Transdiagnostic Approaches to Sexual and Gender Minority Mental Health

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Anthony Rodriguez-Seijas ◽  
Nicholas R Eaton ◽  
John E. Pachankis
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Minority Stress ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Gender Minority ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Minority Mental Health ◽  
Diagnostic Approaches ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minority ◽  
And Gender

Sexual and gender minority individuals experience minority stress, which is hypothesized to underlie the mental health disparities affecting these populations. Drawing on advances in mental disorder classification, we argue that transdiagnostic approaches hold great promise for understanding and reducing these disparities. In contrast to traditional diagnostic approaches, which have limited construct validity and produced a piecemeal literature, transdiagnostic approaches: (1) are evidence based, (2) account for diffuse patterns of disparities and comorbidity, (3) pinpoint psychological mechanisms linking minority stress to poor mental health, (4) reduce scientific stigma, and (5) serve as efficacious and efficient targets for transdiagnostic minority stress interventions.

scholarly journals Sexual and Gender Minority Stress Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for LGBTQ Young Persons’ Mental Health and Well-Being

2020 ◽  
Vol 135 (6) ◽  
pp. 721-727
Author(s):  
John P. Salerno ◽  
Jackson Devadas ◽  
M Pease ◽  
Bryanna Nketia ◽  
Jessica N. Fish
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Minority Stress ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Gender Minority ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minority ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Health And Well Being

The Intersections of Physical and Mental Health among Sexual and Gender Minority Populations

2020 ◽  
pp. 379-393
Author(s):  
Michele J. Eliason
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Minority Stress ◽  
Minority Populations ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Gender Minority ◽  
Adverse Childhood Events ◽  
Adverse Childhood ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minority ◽  
And Gender

There is considerable evidence of health disparities among sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations in the areas of physical health and disability, mental health and suicidality, substance use and abuse, and access to care. However, little research has considered the possibility that disorders might concentrate in subgroups of SGMs with the greatest levels of minority stress over time or those who have experienced the greatest number of adverse childhood events. This chapter examines the scant evidence that physical and mental health disorders coexist in some SGM individuals and offers some critique of the existing research. Future directions for research are proposed.

scholarly journals Differences in Rape Acknowledgement and Mental Health Outcomes across Transgender, Non-binary, and Cisgender Bisexual Youth

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
RaeAnn Anderson ◽  
Lesley A. Tarasoff ◽  
Nicole VanKim ◽  
Corey Flanders
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Minority Stress ◽  
Mental Health Outcomes ◽  
Stress Theory ◽  
Gender Minority ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minority ◽  
Rape Acknowledgment ◽  
And Gender

Objective: The purpose of this study was to document the rates of rape acknowledgment (labeling rape as rape rather than using a minimizing label), and the corresponding mental health correlates using the minority stress framework in a unique and vulnerable sample: racially diverse sexual and gender minority young adults.Method: Participants were 245 young adults who identified their sexual orientation as under the bisexual umbrella. A total of 159 of these participants (65.2%) identified their gender identity as non-binary. All participants completed a series of online questionnaires regarding their sexual victimization history, mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder: PTSD), and constructs relevant to minority stress theory (level of outness, internalized bisexual negativity, connection to LGBTQ community).Results: Rape acknowledgment was significantly greater among gender non-binary participants (79.9%) than among trans and cisgender male participants (17.9%). Lack of rape acknowledgment was associated with increased anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Outness was significantly associated with greater rape acknowledgment. Conclusions: In spite of the highly increased vulnerability for sexual violence among sexual and gender minorities, very little is understood about the mechanisms of this increased vulnerability nor their unique needs for recovery. The results of this study strongly suggest the importance of a minority stress framework for understanding this increased vulnerability and for designing sexual violence prevention and recovery interventions for sexual and gender minority populations.

Mental Health for Sexual and Gender Minority Couples and Families

2020 ◽  
pp. 355-368
Author(s):  
Samantha L. Tornello
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Minority Stress ◽  
Romantic Relationship ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Stress Theory ◽  
Gender Minority ◽  
Related Stigma ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minority ◽  
And Gender

The majority of sexual and gender minority (SGM) people want to be in a romantic relationship and desire parenthood in the future. SGM couples and parents often have similar experiences compared to their cisgender heterosexual peers; however, SGM people experience higher rates of mental health challenges. For SGM people, romantic partners buffer the negative impacts of sexual and gender-related stigma, along with providing social support that is lacking from family, friends, and the wider community. According to minority stress theory, sexual and gender-related negative experiences can be detrimental to the well-being of SGM individuals, with particularly distinctive influences on SGM couples and parents. Understanding the couple and co-parenting dynamics and experiences of SGM couples provides great insight into how to improve the mental health outcomes of all SGM people. This chapter will explore the experiences of SGM couples and parents, examine the positive and negative influences on mental health, and discuss ways to improve the experiences of SGM people through the context of romantic and co-parenting relationships.

Sexual and Gender Minority Mental Health among Children and Youth

2020 ◽  
pp. 228-243
Author(s):  
Jessica N. Fish ◽  
Laura Baams ◽  
Jenifer K. McGuire
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Young People ◽  
Mental Health Treatment ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Youth Mental Health ◽  
Children And Youth ◽  
Gender Minority ◽  
The World ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minority ◽  
And Gender

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) young people are coming of age at a time of dynamic social and political changes with regard to LGBTQ rights and visibility around the world. And yet, contemporary cohorts of SGM youth continue to evidence the same degree of compromised mental health demonstrated by SGM youth of past decades. The authors review the current research on SGM youth mental health, with careful attention to the developmental and contextual characteristics that complicate, support, and thwart mental health for SGM young people. Given a large and rapidly growing body of science in this area, the authors strategically review research that reflects the prevalence of these issues in countries around the world but also concentrate on how mental health concerns among SGM children and youth are shaped by experiences with schools, families, and communities. Promising mental health treatment strategies for this population are reviewed. The chapter ends with a focus on understudied areas in the SGM youth mental health literature, which may offer promising solutions to combat SGM population health disparities and promote mental health among SGM young people during adolescence and as they age across the life course.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. xvi-8
Author(s):  
Esther D. Rothblum
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Clinical Social Work ◽  
Psychiatric Nursing ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Gender Minority ◽  
Minority Mental Health ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minority ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Mental Health Programs

The Oxford Handbook of Sexual and Gender Minority Mental Health provides an overview of the current research on the mental health of sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations. It is aimed at researchers conducting studies on the mental health of SGM populations, clinicians and researchers interested in psychiatric disorders that affect SGM populations, clinicians using evidence-based practice in the treatment of SGM patients/clients, students in mental health programs (clinical psychology, psychiatry, clinical social work, and psychiatric nursing), and policymakers. This chapter defines some terms and provides an overview of current and past SGM research methods.

scholarly journals Mental Health Challenges and Needs among Sexual and Gender Minority People in Western Kenya

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 1311
Author(s):  
Gary W. Harper ◽  
Jessica Crawford ◽  
Katherine Lewis ◽  
Caroline Rucah Mwochi ◽  
Gabriel Johnson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Ptsd Symptoms ◽  
Western Kenya ◽  
Gender Minority ◽  
Sexual And Gender Minority ◽  
Clinically Significant ◽  
And Gender

Background: Sexual and gender minority (SGM) people in Kenya face pervasive socio-cultural and structural discrimination. Persistent stress stemming from anti-SGM stigma and prejudice may place SGM individuals at increased risk for negative mental health outcomes. This study explored experiences with violence (intimate partner violence and SGM-based violence), mental health outcomes (psychological distress, PTSD symptoms, and depressive symptoms), alcohol and other substance use, and prioritization of community needs among SGM adults in Western Kenya. Methods: This study was conducted by members of a collaborative research partnership between a U.S. academic institution and a Kenyan LGBTQ civil society organization (CSO). A convenience sample of 527 SGM adults (92.7% ages 18–34) was recruited from community venues to complete a cross-sectional survey either on paper or through an online secure platform. Results: For comparative analytic purposes, three sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) groups were created: (1) cisgender sexual minority women (SMW; 24.9%), (2) cisgender sexual minority men (SMM; 63.8%), and (3) gender minority individuals (GMI; 11.4%). Overall, 11.7% of participants reported clinically significant levels of psychological distress, 53.2% reported clinically significant levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and 26.1% reported clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms. No statistically significant differences in clinical levels of these mental health concerns were detected across SOGI groups. Overall, 76.2% of participants reported ever using alcohol, 45.6% home brew, 43.5% tobacco, 39.1% marijuana, and 27.7% miraa or khat. Statistically significant SOGI group differences on potentially problematic substance use revealed that GMI participants were less likely to use alcohol and tobacco daily; and SMM participants were more likely to use marijuana daily. Lifetime intimate partner violence (IPV) was reported by 42.5% of participants, and lifetime SGM-based violence (SGMV) was reported by 43.4%. GMI participants were more likely than other SOGI groups to have experienced both IPV and SGMV. Participants who experienced SGMV had significantly higher rates of clinically significant depressive and PTSD symptoms. Conclusions: Despite current resilience demonstrated by SGM adults in Kenya, there is an urgent need to develop and deliver culturally appropriate mental health services for this population. Given the pervasiveness of anti-SGM violence, services should be provided using trauma-informed principles, and be sensitive to the lived experiences of SGM adults in Kenya. Community and policy levels interventions are needed to decrease SGM-based stigma and violence, increase SGM visibility and acceptance, and create safe and affirming venues for mental health care. Political prioritization of SGM mental health is needed for sustainable change.

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