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Recent versus lifetime experiences of discrimination and the mental and physical health of older lesbian women and gay men

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2019

Anthony Lyons Open the ORCID record for Anthony Lyons [Opens in a new window] ,
Beatrice Alba ,
Andrea Waling Open the ORCID record for Andrea Waling [Opens in a new window] ,
Victor Minichiello ,
Mark Hughes ,
Catherine Barrett ,
Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen ,
Samantha Edmonds  and
Michelle Blanchard
Anthony Lyons*
Affiliation:
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Beatrice Alba
Affiliation:
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Andrea Waling
Affiliation:
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
Victor Minichiello
Affiliation:
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia School of Justice, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Mark Hughes
Affiliation:
School of Arts and Social Sciences, Southern Cross University, Gold Coast, Australia
Catherine Barrett
Affiliation:
Alice's Garage, Melbourne, Australia
Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen
Affiliation:
School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
Samantha Edmonds
Affiliation:
Silver Rainbow, National LGBTI Health Alliance, Sydney, Australia
Michelle Blanchard
Affiliation:
SANE Australia, Melbourne, Australia Anne Deveson Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: a.lyons@latrobe.edu.au
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Abstract

This study examines the potential health-related impact of recent versus lifetime experiences of sexual orientation discrimination among older Australian lesbian women and gay men. In a nationwide survey, a sample of 243 lesbian women and 513 gay men aged 60 years and over reported on their experiences of sexual orientation discrimination and their mental and physical health, including psychological distress, positive mental health and self-rated health. Among both lesbian women and gay men, recent discrimination uniquely predicted lower positive mental health after adjusting for experiences of discrimination across the lifetime and socio-demographic variables. In addition, recent discrimination uniquely predicted higher psychological distress among gay men. Experiences of discrimination over the lifetime further predicted higher psychological distress and poorer self-rated health among gay men after adjusting for recent experiences of discrimination and socio-demographic variables. However, there were no associations between lifetime discrimination and any of the outcome variables among lesbian women. Overall, recent and lifetime experiences of sexual orientation discrimination were related to mental and physical health in different ways, especially among the men. These findings have potential implications for policy/practice, and suggest that distinguishing between recent and lifetime experiences of discrimination may be useful when assessing potential health-related impacts of sexual orientation discrimination among older lesbian women and gay men, while also taking account of differences between these two groups.

Keywords

gay menlesbian womenageingdiscriminationwellbeing
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 41 , Issue 5 , May 2021 , pp. 1072 - 1093
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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