Department of Psychology, The City University of New York-The City College and Graduate Center, Convent Avenue and 138th Street, NAC 7-120, New York, NY, 10031, USA,
Arch Sex Behav. 2014 Jul;43(5):901-16. doi: 10.1007/s10508-013-0129-6. Epub 2013 Jun 19.
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (BI) youth have elevated rates of depression compared to heterosexuals. We proposed and examined a theoretical model to understand whether attachment and stress paradigms explain disparities in depressive distress by sexual orientation, using the longitudinal Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) and Nurses' Health Study II (NHSII). GUTS participants eligible for this analysis reported sexual orientation, childhood gender nonconforming behaviors (GNBs), attachment to mother (all in 2005), and depressive symptoms (in 2007). Mothers of the GUTS participants who are the NHSII participants reported attitudes toward homosexuality (in 2004) and maternal affection (in 2006). The sample had 6,122 participants. Of GUTS youth (M = 20.6 years old in 2005; 64.4 % female), 1.7 % were lesbian/gay (LG), 1.7 % bisexual (BI), 10.0 % mostly heterosexual (MH), and 86.7 % completely heterosexual (CH). After adjusting for demographic characteristics and sibling clustering, LGs, BIs, and MHs reported more depressive distress than CHs. This relation was partially mediated (i.e., explained) for LGs, BIs, and MHs relative to CHs by less secure attachment. A conditional relation (i.e., interaction) indicated that BIs reported more distress than CHs as GNBs increased for BIs; no comparable relation was found for LGs versus CHs. Sibling comparisons found that sexual minorities (LGs, BIs, and MHs) reported more depressive distress, less secure attachment, and more childhood GNBs than CH siblings; the mothers reported less affection for their sexual-minority than CH offspring. The findings suggest that attachment and childhood gender nonconformity differentially pattern depressive distress by sexual orientation. Attachment and related experiences are more problematic for sexual minorities than for their CH siblings.
女同性恋、男同性恋和双性恋（BI）青年的抑郁率高于异性恋者。我们提出并检验了一个理论模型，以了解依恋和压力范式是否通过性取向来解释抑郁困扰的差异，使用的是纵向今日成长研究（GUTS）和护士健康研究 II（NHSII）。GUTS 参与者符合本分析条件的报告了性取向、儿童时期的性别非规范行为（GNBs）、对母亲的依恋（均在 2005 年）和抑郁症状（在 2007 年）。GUTS 参与者的 NHSII 参与者的母亲报告了对同性恋的态度（在 2004 年）和母亲的感情（在 2006 年）。该样本有 6122 名参与者。GUTS 青年（2005 年时平均年龄为 20.6 岁；64.4%为女性）中，1.7%是女同性恋/男同性恋（LG），1.7%是双性恋（BI），10.0%是大多数异性恋（MH），86.7%是完全异性恋（CH）。在调整人口统计学特征和兄弟姐妹聚类后，LG、BI 和 MH 比 CH 报告了更多的抑郁困扰。与 CH 相比，LG、BI 和 MH 的这种关系部分通过不安全感依恋来解释（即，解释）。条件关系（即相互作用）表明，当 BI 的 GNBs 增加时，BI 比 CH 报告更多的痛苦；而 LG 与 CH 之间没有类似的关系。兄弟姐妹比较发现，性少数群体（LG、BI 和 MH）比 CH 兄弟姐妹报告更多的抑郁困扰、不安全感依恋和更多的儿童时期的 GNBs；母亲对性少数群体的后代的感情比 CH 后代的感情要少。研究结果表明，依恋和儿童时期的性别非规范不同程度地通过性取向影响抑郁困扰。依恋和相关经历对性少数群体比他们的 CH 兄弟姐妹更成问题。
