Bouncing Back: Resilience, Aggression, and Depression in Older Gay Men and Lesbians

Abstract

Older gay men and lesbians are at greater risk for depression due to a lifetime of sexual minority stress (Fredriksen-Goldsen et al., 2013). For gay men and lesbians, depression is associated with aggression and relationship problems (Bernards & Graham, 2013). However, aggression may foster resilience if aggression is expressed in a healthy, nonviolent manner that motivates a person to take positive action towards a greater purpose (Russell & Richards, 2003). What are the relationships between aggression and resilience with depression in a sample of older gay men and lesbians; and do group differences exist? Data was collected from (N=50; Older gay men) and (N=50; Older lesbian women). SPSS 20 was used to run a multivariate analysis to test our overall model. Through a minority stress lens (Meyer, 1998), this study hypothesizes resilience moderates the relationship between aggression and depression. Significant differences between older gay men and older lesbians’ aggression, resilience, and depression scores exist. For the older gay men and lesbian combined group, a moderation analysis indicated that in addition to aggression and resilience being single significantly predicted depression accounting for approximately 57% of the variance in depression. Furthermore, resilience significantly moderated the relationship between aggression and depression in the model in the sample (N = 100) of older gay men and lesbians.