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Associations of Timing of Sexual Orientation Developmental Milestones and Other Sexual Minority Stressors with Internalizing Mental Health Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Young Adults

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Abstract

Sexual minorities (mostly heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian/gay) are more likely than heterosexuals to have adverse mental health, which may be related to minority stress. We used longitudinal data from 1461 sexual minority women and men, aged 22–30 years, from Wave 2010 of the Growing Up Today Study, to examine associations between sexual minority stressors and mental health. We hypothesized that sexual minority stressors (earlier timing of sexual orientation developmental milestones categorized into early adolescence, middle adolescence, late adolescence/young adulthood; greater sexual orientation mobility; more bullying victimization) would be positively associated with mental health outcomes (depressive and anxious symptoms). Linear regression models stratified by gender and sexual orientation were fit via generalized estimating equations and controlled for age and race/ethnicity. Models were fit for each stressor predicting each mental health outcome. Reaching sexual minority milestones in early versus middle adolescence was associated with greater depressive and anxious symptoms among lesbians and gay men. Reaching sexual minority milestones in late adolescence/young adulthood versus middle adolescence was associated with greater depressive symptoms among lesbians, but fewer depressive and anxious symptoms among gay men. Greater sexual orientation mobility was associated with greater depressive symptoms among mostly heterosexual women. More bullying victimization was associated with greater depressive symptoms among bisexual women and with greater anxious symptoms among mostly heterosexual women. Sexual minority stressors are associated with adverse mental health among some sexual minority young adults. More research is needed to understand what may be protecting some subgroups from the mental health effects of sexual minority stressors.

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Acknowledgments

This study was conducted with funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NIH R01 HD066963; NIH R01 HD057368), the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (Leadership Education in Adolescent Health Project 6T71-MC00009; T76-MC00001), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH K01 DA034753). We would like to thank the participants from the Growing Up Today Study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Sabra L. Katz-Wise, Jerel P. Calzo, Vishnudas Sarda & S. Bryn Austin

  2. Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Sabra L. Katz-Wise, Jerel P. Calzo & S. Bryn Austin

  3. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    S. Bryn Austin

  4. Department of Psychology, City University of New York–City College and Graduate Center, New York, NY, USA

    Margaret Rosario

  5. Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science, San Diego State University Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego, CA, USA

    Jerel P. Calzo

  6. Department of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA

    Emily A. Scherer

  7. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    S. Bryn Austin

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  1. Sabra L. Katz-Wise
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  2. Margaret Rosario
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  6. S. Bryn Austin
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Correspondence to Sabra L. Katz-Wise.

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Conflict of interest

Drs. Katz-Wise, Scherer, and Austin were supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NIH R01 HD066963) and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (Leadership Education in Adolescent Health Project 6T71-MC00009). Drs. Rosario and Austin were supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NIH R01 HD057368). Dr. Austin was additionally supported by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration (T76-MC00001). Dr. Calzo was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH K01 DA034753). All authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Institutional Review Board and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

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Katz-Wise, S.L., Rosario, M., Calzo, J.P. et al. Associations of Timing of Sexual Orientation Developmental Milestones and Other Sexual Minority Stressors with Internalizing Mental Health Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Young Adults. Arch Sex Behav 46, 1441–1452 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-017-0964-y

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