title: Mental health and substance use disorders among Latino and Asian American lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults.
abstract: Growing evidence suggests that lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults may be at elevated risk for mental health and substance use disorders, possibly due to anti-gay stigma. Little of this work has examined putative excess morbidity among ethnic/racial minorities resulting from the experience of multiple sources of discrimination. The authors report findings from the National Latino and Asian American Survey (NLAAS), a national household probability psychiatric survey of 4,488 Latino and Asian American adults. Approximately 4.8% of persons interviewed identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or reported recent same-gender sexual experiences. Although few sexual orientation-related differences were observed, among men, gay/bisexual men were more likely than heterosexual men to report a recent suicide attempt. Among women, lesbian/bisexual women were more likely than heterosexual women to evidence positive 1-year and lifetime histories of depressive disorders. These findings suggest a small elevation in psychiatric morbidity risk among Latino and Asian American individuals with a minority sexual orientation. However, the level of morbidity among sexual orientation minorities in the NLAAS appears similar to or lower than that observed in population-based studies of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults.
authors: Department of Epidemiology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772, USA. cochran@ucla.edu
authors: Susan D
authors: SD
authors: Cochran
authors: Vickie M
authors: VM
authors: Mays
authors: Margarita
authors: M
authors: Alegria
authors: Alexander N
authors: AN
authors: Ortega
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Takeuchi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017831:Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); D019263:Dysthymic Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011287:Prejudice; D012307:Risk Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States