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Conference presentation
Subjective mental health among LGB Latino and Asian American adults: A comparison between older and younger adults
25th Annual Southeastern Student Mentoring Conference in Geriatrics and Gerontology, Athens, GA, April 2014
2014
Abstract
Although there is a significant amount of literature on lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults, there has been very little research on the experiences of Latino and Asian American LGB populations. This is especially true for LGB Latino and Asian American older adults.
Using secondary data from the National Latino and Asian American Study (2002-2003) we examined the relation between subjective mental health and age in a sub-sample of 404 LGB adults when controlling for psychological distress, religious and social support and a subjective rating of physical health.
Independent t-tests revealed that LGB adults over 55 reported significantly lower subjective mental health and physical health than LGB adults under 55 but there was no significant difference on psychological distress. In addition, LGB older adults reported significantly less support from friends but there was no significant difference on support from relatives. LGB older adults also reported seeking comfort in religion significantly more than younger adults. When these variables were entered into a regression equation, psychological distress, age and subjective health predicted subjective mental health. Greater psychological distress, being older and rating one's health as worse predicted worse mental health appraisal.
These results suggest that the lower subjective mental health ratings among LGB adults over 55 may be partially explained by their psychological distress and perception of their physical health; however, the differences on support from friends and religious/spiritual support are worth noting . One limitation is that the survey questions made it difficult to disentangle experiences related to culture to those related to sexuality.
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- Title
- Subjective mental health among LGB Latino and Asian American adults
- Publication Details
- 25th Annual Southeastern Student Mentoring Conference in Geriatrics and Gerontology, Athens, GA, April 2014
- Resource Type
- Conference presentation
- Copyright
- Permission granted to the University of West Florida Libraries to digitize and/or display this information for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires the permission of the copyright holder.
- Identifiers
- 99380090344906600
- Academic Unit
- Usha Kundu, MD College of Health; Former Faculty
- Language
- English