Florida State University, Tallahassee, 32306-2270, USA.
J Health Soc Behav. 2010 Dec;51(4):391-407. doi: 10.1177/0022146510386793.
Previous research has documented that sexual minorities are more likely than heterosexual people to experience mental health problems, but little is known about how these disparities emerge. Analysis of data from Miami-Dade County, Florida, shows that young adults reporting same-sex contact have higher levels of depressive symptoms and drug use than those without such contact, but that different processes explain the disparities in the two outcomes. A substantial portion of the gap in depressive symptoms is explained by sexual minorities' higher levels of stress exposure and their lower levels of family support and psychological resources. The gap in drug use is not explained by these processes, but is partially explained by self-exploratory attitudes and permissiveness of drug use in social networks. This study highlights the importance of using multiple outcome measures in research that examines mechanisms underlying mental health disparities across social groups.
先前的研究已经证明，性少数群体比异性恋者更有可能出现心理健康问题，但对于这些差异是如何产生的知之甚少。对佛罗里达州迈阿密-戴德县数据的分析表明，报告有同性接触的年轻人比没有这种接触的年轻人更容易出现抑郁症状和药物使用问题，但这两种结果的差异有不同的产生原因。性少数群体所经历的更高水平的压力暴露、更低水平的家庭支持和心理资源，在很大程度上解释了抑郁症状的差异。而在药物使用方面，这些因素并不能解释差异，部分原因是性少数群体的自我探索态度以及社交网络中对药物使用的宽容态度。本研究强调了在研究跨社会群体心理健康差异的潜在机制时，使用多种结果衡量标准的重要性。
