Abstract
Background: There is considerable evidence of health disparities among gay men characterized by higher levels of stress and distress. Psycho-social resources have been linked to numerous positive health outcomes and shown to act as buffers in the stress-distress pathway.Methods: With data from the 3rd Geneva Gay Men's Health Survey carried out in 2011 using time-space sampling (n = 428), a relatively elaborate profile of 14 psycho-social resources—including mindfulness—is presented. Using their original scores, latent class analysis created an index variable dividing the respondents into meaningful groups. Psycho-social resources—the index variable as well as each resource individually—were then compared to two recent outcomes—i.e., serious mental illness in the past 4 weeks and short-term disability in the past 2 weeks—using a series of logistic regression models, controlling for all other psycho-social resources and socio-demographic confounders. To assess their potential role as buffers, a similar series of logistic regression models were erected using victimization and three outcomes—i.e., major depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt—in the past 12 months.Results: According to the latent class analyses, (1) 5.1% of this sample had a low level of psycho-social resources (i.e., one standard deviation (SD) below the group means), (2) 25.2% a medium-low level, (3) 47.4% a medium level (i.e., at the group means), and (4) 22.2% a high level of psycho-social resources (i.e., one SD above the group means). Psycho-social resources appeared to strongly protect against recent mental morbidity and buffer against the impact of victimization on major depression and suicidality in the past 12 months, reducing the adjusted odds ratios below statistical significance. The explained variance and the individual psycho-social resources which remained independent in the models differed for each outcome.Conclusions: There may be disparities in several psycho-social resources among gay men, and as strong compensatory and protective factors, they may explain in part the well-established disparities in stress and distress in this population. While multiple psycho-social resources should be promoted in this population, gay men under 25 years should receive particular attention as all three disparities are most pronounced in this age group.
Highlights
Psycho-social resources have been linked to positive mental and physical health outcomes [1] and even reduced mortality in the general population [2], but since it has been shown that psychosocial resources are not distributed [1, 3], they may help explain health disparities as important mediators and moderators for poor health outcomes [4]
In Add Health—a longitudinal study of adolescent health in the US—victimization and same-sex attraction were independently associated with depressive symptoms and suicidality [15], but structural equation modeling with cross-sectional data from the Chicago Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) showed that victimization constitutes the pathway between sexual identity and suicidality [16]
Higher scores indicate a higher level of all psycho-social resources, except for internalized homophobia where higher scores indicate a lower level of self-acceptance of one’s homosexuality
Summary
Psycho-social resources have been linked to positive mental and physical health outcomes [1] and even reduced mortality in the general population [2], but since it has been shown that psychosocial resources are not distributed [1, 3], they may help explain health disparities as important mediators and moderators for poor health outcomes [4]. Longitudinal data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS) established a link between mastery and social support with depression symptoms, but mastery was shown to moderate and mediate the negative impact of stressors such as daily stress on depression symptoms [8]. In Add Health—a longitudinal study of adolescent health in the US—victimization and same-sex attraction were independently associated with depressive symptoms and suicidality [15], but structural equation modeling with cross-sectional data from the Chicago Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) showed that victimization constitutes the pathway between sexual identity and suicidality [16]. Psycho-social resources have been linked to numerous positive health outcomes and shown to act as buffers in the stress-distress pathway
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