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Mental Health

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Marginality and Global LGBT Communities

Part of the book series: Neighborhoods, Communities, and Urban Marginality ((NCUM))

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Abstract

This chapter investigates the relationships among discrimination, stigma, and bias and mental health within the LGBTQ community. The chapter discusses symptoms and correlates of poor mental health including psychological distress, suicide, and homelessness while also considering resiliency and protective factors. The chapter examines within group differences among the LGBT population, including the relationship of sexual identity to internalized homophobia and HIV/AIDS stigma and the ensuing impact of these stressors on the psychological distress of gay Black men. Another focus of chapter six is suicide given the data indicating that racial minority LGBT youth (African American and Latino) attempt suicide at twice the rate of non-minority LGBT youth (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, 2011). Homelessness is also discussed given that within the population of runaway and homeless youth (RHY), LGBTQ individuals are overrepresented at 20–40%, a much higher percentage than either heterosexual or cisgender (individuals whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth) peers (e.g., Durso & Gates, Serving Our Youth: Findings from a National Survey of Service Providers Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth Who Are Homeless or at Risk of Becoming Homeless, 2012).

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  1. Washington University in St. Louis , St. Louis, MO, USA

    Sheri R. Notaro

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Correspondence to Sheri R. Notaro .

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Notaro, S.R. (2020). Mental Health. In: Marginality and Global LGBT Communities . Neighborhoods, Communities, and Urban Marginality. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22415-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22415-8_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-22414-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-22415-8

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