Santé des groupes minoritaires

Health of Minority Groups

• Minority groups, including people of color, transgender individuals, and LGB+ individuals, experience poorer well-being compared to majority groups.
• This is often linked to structural racism, lower socioeconomic status, and limited access to healthcare.
• Transgender individuals have significantly higher suicide rates (10-20 times higher) compared to the general population in US samples.
• LGB+ individuals are 2.5 times more likely to have a lifetime history of mental disorders compared to heterosexual individuals.
• Divergent lived experiences exist between more privileged and marginalized groups, both individually and structurally.

Biological and Assigned Sex

• Sex is a biological status assigned at birth, with indicators like external genitalia, internal reproductive organs, sex chromosomes, gonads, and hormones.
• Recent research suggests more variance in sex than previously understood; a binary (female/male) categorization is insufficient.

Gender Identity

• Gender identity is a person's psychological sense of self as male, female, transgender, or another gender.
• Gender expression refers to how a person outwardly communicates their gender.

Sexual Orientation

• Sexual orientation refers to a person's attraction to others of the same sex, opposite sex, or both.
• Self-identified sexual orientation and experiences frequently vary depending on social and cultural contexts.
• Recent studies show that same-sex attraction and behavior happen more often (1 to 6%) than initially thought.

Psychological Symptoms and Mental Disorders in Minorities

• Sexual minorities are 2.5 times more likely to experience a lifetime history of mental disorders compared to heterosexuals.
• Internalizing problems (like depression and anxiety) and externalizing behaviors (like substance abuse) are more frequent amongst minorities.
• Minority groups are more likely to experience multiple forms of victimization, including physical and sexual abuse.
• Studies from Switzerland also show higher stress and poorer well-being for LGB+ people compared to heterosexual people.

Minority Stress Model

• The minority stress model, developed by Meyer (2003), details how minority stressors in the environment lead to minority stress processes; distal (objective) stress leads to proximal stressors (cognitive and perception).
• These stressors have an additive effect on health outcomes and can lead to significant mental health challenges.
• The model suggests that minority status leads to more stress, which is chronic and unique to those individuals.
• A person's coping mechanisms, social support, and identity integration are also key factors in how they manage these stressors.

Swiss Studies and Psychological Burden

• Swiss studies indicate up to 5 times higher risk of suicide attempts in young gay and bisexual men compared to heterosexual men.
• Studies on LGBT panels show that experienced discrimination is common.

Intersectionality

• Identities (such as gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity) intersect and influence each other.
• Minorities and groups with overlapping identities face compounded stress and oppression.
• Social support from peers of similar backgrounds plays an important role and can buffer the negative effects of internalized homonegativity.

Coming Out

• Coming out is a complex process with individual variations. It isn't always a linear path.
• Recent generations tend to come out earlier compared to previous generations.
• External pressures and responses, (often negative), can add chronic stress related to coming out.
• Social stigma can make open expression dangerous and damaging to the individual.

Resources and Support

• Social support from friends is a significant coping mechanism for sexual minority youth.
• Peer support is often more important than family support.