Chandran Aruna, Haberlen Sabina, Ware Deanna, Meanley Steven, Brennan-Ing Mark, Brown Andre L, Teplin Linda A, Egan James E, Mimiaga Matthew J, Friedman M Reuel, Plankey Michael
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC.
Psychol Sex Orientat Gend Divers. 2024 Jun;11(2):328-336. doi: 10.1037/sgd0000605. Epub 2022 Sep 29.
Sexual minority men (SMM) in the US are twice as likely to experience mental health challenges, including depressive symptoms, compared with their heterosexual counterparts. Having a like-mentor, or a sexual minority mentor, is associated with improved mental well-being among SMM mentees. However, few studies have explored the potential benefits to mentors. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we calculated a perceptions of mentoring score that encompasses experiences and beliefs regarding mentoring of SMM from the Healthy Aging Substudy of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study. We used a generalized estimating equations model to assess associations between perceptions of mentoring and clinically significant depressive symptoms adjusted for key covariates; models were also stratified by HIV serostatus. Among 1,246 men aged 40+ years, the strongest agreement was with the statement "I have encouraged people to be proud of their sexual orientation," for which 770 individuals (72%) indicated "Agree" or "Strongly Agree." Each unit increase in the mean perceptions of mentoring score was associated with 8% decreased odds of having clinically significant depressive symptoms (adjusted odds ratio: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.85-0.99). We show that SMM reported like-mentoring experiences and had positive mentoring beliefs, and that these were associated with a decreased odds of having depressive symptoms. Encouraging SMM to serve as like-mentors could be a way to counter depressive symptoms among this key population. There is a need for increased research regarding how mentoring programs can best be designed to benefit sexual minority mentees and mentors.
在美国，性少数男性（SMM）出现心理健康问题（包括抑郁症状）的可能性是异性恋男性的两倍。拥有一位同志导师，即性少数导师，与SMM学员心理健康状况的改善有关。然而，很少有研究探讨导师可能获得的益处。我们使用验证性因素分析，计算了一个指导认知分数，该分数涵盖了来自多中心艾滋病队列研究健康老龄化子研究中关于SMM指导的经历和信念。我们使用广义估计方程模型来评估指导认知与经关键协变量调整后的具有临床意义的抑郁症状之间的关联；模型也按HIV血清学状态进行分层。在1246名40岁及以上的男性中，与“我鼓励人们为自己的性取向感到骄傲”这一表述的一致性最强，770人（72%）表示“同意”或“强烈同意”。指导认知分数的平均每增加一个单位，出现具有临床意义的抑郁症状的几率就降低8%（调整后的优势比：0.92；95%置信区间：0.85 - 0.99）。我们表明，SMM报告了同志指导经历并持有积极的指导信念，而这些与出现抑郁症状的几率降低有关。鼓励SMM担任同志导师可能是减少这一关键人群抑郁症状的一种方式。有必要加强关于如何最好地设计指导项目以使性少数学员和导师受益的研究。
