Differences in mental health symptoms and treatment by sexual orientation and migration background in a population-based sample.

IF 3.6 2区医学 Q1 PSYCHIATRY

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Pub Date : 2025-02-17 DOI:10.1007/s00127-025-02848-w

Andreas Malm, Petter Tinghög, Richard Bränström

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Abstract

Purpose: Although sexual minorities are consistently found to be at excess risk of poor mental health, less is known about the mental health of individuals with dual minority statuses based on sexual orientation and migration background. This study aimed to examine prevalence of and disparities in mental health symptoms and treatment for common mental disorders (CMD) among sexual minority migrants; and to explore the potential mediating role of interpersonal and social stress.

Methods: Participants were drawn from the Swedish Public Health Survey, 2018. The analytic sample included 104,652 individuals with complete records on all study variables (37.1%). The survey assessed mental health symptoms and interpersonal and social stress and was complemented with information on psychiatric treatment from comprehensive nationwide registries. Using logistic regression and mediation analyses, six groups were compared based on sexual orientation and migration background.

Results: Greater risk of mental health symptoms was found among Swedish-born and non-European sexual minorities (adjusted odds ratios (OR) = 2.20, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.89-2.57, and OR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.34-3.29, respectively) compared to Swedish-born heterosexuals. Swedish-born sexual minorities were at greater risk of receiving treatment for CMD (OR = 2.58, 95% CI 2.20-3.01), while non-European heterosexuals showed lower risk (OR = 0.61, 95% CI 0.52-0.72). Perceived discrimination was less common among non-European sexual minorities compared to their Swedish-born counterparts and partially mediated the association between migration background and mental health symptoms.

Conclusions: Sexual minority migrants are at greater risk of mental health symptoms compared to Swedish-born heterosexuals but not compared to Swedish-born sexual minorities. Providing mental health care for sexual minorities, including sexual minority migrants, and targeting sexual orientation discrimination, should be a priority.

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来源期刊

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 医学-精神病学

CiteScore

8.50

自引率

2.30%

发文量

184

审稿时长

3-6 weeks

期刊介绍： Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology is intended to provide a medium for the prompt publication of scientific contributions concerned with all aspects of the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders - social, biological and genetic. In addition, the journal has a particular focus on the effects of social conditions upon behaviour and the relationship between psychiatric disorders and the social environment. Contributions may be of a clinical nature provided they relate to social issues, or they may deal with specialised investigations in the fields of social psychology, sociology, anthropology, epidemiology, health service research, health economies or public mental health. We will publish papers on cross-cultural and trans-cultural themes. We do not publish case studies or small case series. While we will publish studies of reliability and validity of new instruments of interest to our readership, we will not publish articles reporting on the performance of established instruments in translation. Both original work and review articles may be submitted.