Ehlke Sarah J, Braitman Abby L, Dawson Charlotte A, Heron Kristin E, Lewis Robin J
Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA.
Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology, Norfolk, VA.
Sex Roles. 2020 Sep;83(5-6):370-381. doi: 10.1007/s11199-019-01117-w. Epub 2020 Jan 6.
Bisexual women report more physical and psychological health problems than lesbian women do, which may be attributed to greater sexual minority stress and less social support. However, many studies combine lesbian and bisexual women into a single group. The current study examined if sexual minority stress and social support mediated the association between women's sexual identity (lesbian or bisexual) and health-related outcomes. A total of 650 U.S. young adult lesbian ( = 227) and bisexual ( = 423) women completed an online survey about sexual minority stress, social support, and physical and mental health problems. Bisexual women reported more physical and mental health problems. A sequential mediation model showed that bisexual women reported greater sexual minority stress than lesbian women, which in turn was associated with less social support, which was associated with more physical and mental health problems. Greater sexual minority stress and lower social support may help explain why bisexual women report more health-related problems than lesbian women. The results of the present study support the importance of examining risk and protective factors for health problems separately for lesbian and bisexual women. Health-related intervention programs that target sexual minority women may need to be tailored differently for lesbian and bisexual women.
双性恋女性比女同性恋女性报告更多的身心健康问题,这可能归因于更大的性少数群体压力和更少的社会支持。然而,许多研究将女同性恋和双性恋女性合并为一个单一群体。当前的研究考察了性少数群体压力和社会支持是否介导了女性的性取向(女同性恋或双性恋)与健康相关结果之间的关联。共有650名美国年轻成年女同性恋者(n = 227)和双性恋者(n = 423)完成了一项关于性少数群体压力、社会支持以及身心健康问题的在线调查。双性恋女性报告了更多的身心健康问题。一个序列中介模型表明,双性恋女性比女同性恋女性报告了更大的性少数群体压力,而这反过来又与更少的社会支持相关联,而更少的社会支持又与更多的身心健康问题相关联。更大的性少数群体压力和更低的社会支持可能有助于解释为什么双性恋女性比女同性恋女性报告更多与健康相关的问题。本研究结果支持了分别针对女同性恋和双性恋女性检查健康问题的风险和保护因素的重要性。针对性少数群体女性的与健康相关的干预项目可能需要针对女同性恋和双性恋女性进行不同的调整。