TY - JOUR
T1 - Psychosocial syndemic risks surrounding physical health conditions among sexual and gender minority individuals
AU - Scheer, Jillian R.
AU - Pachankis, John E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded, in part, by the LGBT Dissertation Grant to J.R.S. from the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity of the American Psychological Association, by the Boston College Lynch School of Education Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship in support of J.R.S, and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University. J.R.S is supported by award T32MH020031 from the National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH020031-20; PI: Kershaw).
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2019, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
PY - 2019/12
Y1 - 2019/12
N2 - Purpose: The high prevalence of physical health conditions among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals could be explained, in part, by SGM individuals' disparate exposure to interconnected psychosocial syndemic risks, including substance use, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault. We utilized a syndemic framework to understand the overlapping and potentially synergistic association between psychosocial syndemic risks and physical health conditions among SGM adults. Methods: A sample of 298 self-identified SGM adults (M age = 28.03, SD = 9.86; 47.0% racial/ethnic minority, 41.6% transgender or gender nonconforming) completed an online survey from May 2016 through May 2017. Results: Three (1.0%) participants reported no syndemic risks, 19 (6.4%) reported one, 52 (17.4%) reported two, 85 (28.5%) reported three, 89 (29.9%) reported four, and 50 (16.8%) reported all five syndemic risks. The number of psychosocial syndemic risks was positively associated with the number of physical health conditions and synergistically (i.e., more than additively) increased the overall health burden on SGM individuals. Conclusion: We found evidence for psychosocial syndemic risks as predictors of SGM individuals' physical health. This study is novel in providing evidence for syndemics surrounding a comprehensive set of physical health outcomes among individuals identifying along a full spectrum of SGM identities. The study controlled for HIV to examine syndemic conditions surrounding physical health outcomes beyond this well-established syndemically determined condition. Comprehensive intervention and policy efforts that address co-occurring psychosocial risks for physical health conditions are needed to reduce health disparities affecting SGM populations.
AB - Purpose: The high prevalence of physical health conditions among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals could be explained, in part, by SGM individuals' disparate exposure to interconnected psychosocial syndemic risks, including substance use, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, intimate partner violence, and sexual assault. We utilized a syndemic framework to understand the overlapping and potentially synergistic association between psychosocial syndemic risks and physical health conditions among SGM adults. Methods: A sample of 298 self-identified SGM adults (M age = 28.03, SD = 9.86; 47.0% racial/ethnic minority, 41.6% transgender or gender nonconforming) completed an online survey from May 2016 through May 2017. Results: Three (1.0%) participants reported no syndemic risks, 19 (6.4%) reported one, 52 (17.4%) reported two, 85 (28.5%) reported three, 89 (29.9%) reported four, and 50 (16.8%) reported all five syndemic risks. The number of psychosocial syndemic risks was positively associated with the number of physical health conditions and synergistically (i.e., more than additively) increased the overall health burden on SGM individuals. Conclusion: We found evidence for psychosocial syndemic risks as predictors of SGM individuals' physical health. This study is novel in providing evidence for syndemics surrounding a comprehensive set of physical health outcomes among individuals identifying along a full spectrum of SGM identities. The study controlled for HIV to examine syndemic conditions surrounding physical health outcomes beyond this well-established syndemically determined condition. Comprehensive intervention and policy efforts that address co-occurring psychosocial risks for physical health conditions are needed to reduce health disparities affecting SGM populations.
KW - mental health
KW - physical health
KW - sexual and gender minority
KW - syndemic
KW - violence
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U2 - 10.1089/lgbt.2019.0025
DO - 10.1089/lgbt.2019.0025
M3 - Article
C2 - 31644383
AN - SCOPUS:85076327745
SN - 2325-8292
VL - 6
SP - 377
EP - 385
JO - LGBT Health
JF - LGBT Health
IS - 8
ER -