PURPOSE: A growing body of research has begun to examine wellness behaviors in sexual minority women. While a number of constructs have been associated with wellness behaviors in this population, including outness, social support, and mental health, no research has attempted to forge the specific and unique connections among them. The aim of the current study was to construct a theoretical chain among these variables leading to wellness behaviors among an ethnically diverse sample of sexual minority women. METHODS: A sample of 150 ethnically diverse, cisgender women identifying as lesbian, bisexual, queer, or an "other" non-heterosexual sexual orientation completed a web-administered national survey. Scales assessed participants' outness, social support, mental health, and wellness behaviors. RESULTS: In a series of simultaneous, multiple regressions, outness to one's family was positively associated with wellness behavior and social support; social support from one's family and friends was positively associated with mental health; and depression was negatively associated with wellness behaviors. Two multiple mediational models generally suggested a cascading influence of outness to one's family on wellness behaviors through social support from one's family and depression. CONCLUSION: The study is one of the first to find potentially cascading links among personal, social, and mental health variables with health behaviors in a sample of diverse lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women. It thereby illuminates a number of potential targets for health promotion interventions in this population.
PURPOSE: A growing body of research has begun to examine wellness behaviors in sexual minority women. While a number of constructs have been associated with wellness behaviors in this population, including outness, social support, and mental health, no research has attempted to forge the specific and unique connections among them. The aim of the current study was to construct a theoretical chain among these variables leading to wellness behaviors among an ethnically diverse sample of sexual minority women. METHODS: A sample of 150 ethnically diverse, cisgender women identifying as lesbian, bisexual, queer, or an "other" non-heterosexual sexual orientation completed a web-administered national survey. Scales assessed participants' outness, social support, mental health, and wellness behaviors. RESULTS: In a series of simultaneous, multiple regressions, outness to one's family was positively associated with wellness behavior and social support; social support from one's family and friends was positively associated with mental health; and depression was negatively associated with wellness behaviors. Two multiple mediational models generally suggested a cascading influence of outness to one's family on wellness behaviors through social support from one's family and depression. CONCLUSION: The study is one of the first to find potentially cascading links among personal, social, and mental health variables with health behaviors in a sample of diverse lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women. It thereby illuminates a number of potential targets for health promotion interventions in this population.
Entities:
Keywords:
access to care; bisexual mental health needs; lesbian
Authors: John E Pachankis; Conor P Mahon; Skyler D Jackson; Benjamin K Fetzner; Richard Bränström Journal: Psychol Bull Date: 2020-07-23 Impact factor: 17.737
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