The Relationship Between Indicators of Depression and Anxiety and Sexual Orientation in Canadian Women

Previous studies examining the associations between women’s sexual orientation and mental health have obtained inconsistent results. Whereas some studies have suggested that status as a lesbian or bisexual woman may be associated with greater mental health risk, others have suggested that bisexual w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archives of sexual behavior 2018-05, Vol.47 (4), p.1173-1182
Main Authors: Petterson, Lanna J., VanderLaan, Doug P., Persson, Tonje J., Vasey, Paul L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anxiety
Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis
Anxiety Disorders - epidemiology
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Bisexuality
Bisexuality - psychology
Canada - epidemiology
Depression - diagnosis
Depression - epidemiology
Female
Gays & lesbians
Homosexuality, Female - psychology
Humans
Mental depression
Mental health
Original Paper
Psychology
Public Health
Sexual Behavior
Sexual Behavior - psychology
Sexual orientation
Social Sciences
Surveys and Questionnaires
Women
Womens health
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Previous studies examining the associations between women’s sexual orientation and mental health have obtained inconsistent results. Whereas some studies have suggested that status as a lesbian or bisexual woman may be associated with greater mental health risk, others have suggested that bisexual women may be specifically vulnerable to mental health problems. The current study examined two competing models in a non-clinical sample of Canadian women ( N  = 278). The first model predicted that women who reported bisexual attraction would endorse more indicators of depression and anxiety compared to women who reported monosexuality (either same- or opposite-sex attraction). The second model predicted that women who reported relatively greater same-sex attraction would exhibit elevated indicators of depression and anxiety compared to women who reported opposite-sex attraction. Consistent with Model 1, greater bisexual attraction predicted greater endorsement of indicators of depression and anxiety compared to greater same-sex or opposite-sex attraction. These findings suggest that, in women, bisexuality may be associated with higher risk of depression and anxiety than monosexuality. Future research may benefit from exploring risk factors potentially unique to the mental health of bisexual women.
ISSN:0004-0002
1573-2800
DOI:10.1007/s10508-017-1099-x