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Psychological Health Correlates of Perceived Discrimination among Canadian Gay Men and Lesbian Women

April 6, 2012 Comments off

Psychological Health Correlates of Perceived Discrimination among Canadian Gay Men and Lesbian Women

Source:  Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health
Despite the growing number of studies investigating the association between perceived discrimination and psychological health, research of this kind is scarce in Canada. To begin addressing this omission, the present study documents the frequency of discriminatory events experienced by sexual minorities and their linkage with indicants of psychological well-being. Responding to an online survey, 348 self-identifying gay men (n = 177) and lesbian women (n = 169) completed measures of perceived discrimination, depression, psychological distress, life optimism, and self-esteem. Perceiving verbal insults and verbal threats were the most frequently cited incidents, and several statistically significant correlates of depression and psychological distress emerged. Exploratory analyses revealed that: (a) the association between depression and internalized homonegativity was greater in magnitude for lesbian women than for gay men; and (b) the associations between being the recipient of verbal insults and depression and psychological distress were greater for gay men than lesbian women. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are outlined.

+ Full Paper (PDF)

Categories: Canada, Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health, GLBT issues, mental health and substance abuse, psychology and sociology
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