Citation

Lewis NM. Health Place 2009; 15(4): 1029-1045.

Affiliation

Department of Geography, Queen's University, Mackintosh-Corry Hall D-201, Kingston, Ont., Canada K7L 3N6.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.healthplace.2009.05.003

PMID

19515600

Abstract

This meta-analysis featuring 12 national adult studies and 16 state/regional youth studies of sexuality and mental health finds that sexual minorities-as a likely consequence of place-contingent minority stress-experience mental health outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and suicide ideation much more frequently than their heterosexual counterparts. By interrogating the geographic variations in the findings, such as high rates of poor mental health outcomes in the United Kingdom, large gay-heterosexual disparities in the Netherlands, and lower and improving rates of both outcomes and risk factors in Vermont and British Columbia, this study asserts that policy regimes, health programming, and the ways in which sexual minorities are constructed in places all contribute to their mental health.

Language: en