Disparities in Psychological Distress between Czech General Population and LGB + Community Sample

Abstract

Sexuality and gender identity measures are rarely included in population-level health studies, even though research shows that sexual minorities are among the groups most vulnerable to psychological distress. In this study, we strive to make the first step towards overcoming this gap in data availability in Czechia. We used data from a recent Czech General population sample (N = 1,841) aged from 15 to 92 with mean = 46,53 and SD = 17,68 years and a Czech sexual minority community sample (N = 1,788) aged from 15 to 71 with mean = 24.2 and SD = 10.1 years that included 642 gay or lesbian men (either cis or trans), 427 gay or lesbian women (either cis or trans), and 450 bisexual individuals (94 men and 356 women, both either cis or trans). We found that all LGB+ subgroups had significantly higher levels of psychological distress compared to general population as measured by Brief Symptom Inventory. This effect was more pronounced in bisexual participants than in gay and lesbian participants. This is the first Czech study focused on comparison of the differences in psychological distress between the general population and sexual minorities. Our study shows that overcoming the lack of inclusion of sexuality and gender identity measures in relevant population health surveys needs to be addressed soon.