scholarly journals Associations between sexual orientation, financial security and relationships with family and peers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan ◽  
Olanrewaju Ibigbami ◽  
Nourhan M Aly ◽  
Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga ◽  
Giuliana Florencia Abeldaño ◽  
...  

Background: This study aimed to determine whether factors associated with financial insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic were associated with worsening relationships with family, peers and friends of sexual minorities living in Nigeria. Methods: Data were collected using an online survey conducted from 29th June to 31st December 2020. The outcome variable was the quality of relationship with family, friends and peers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The explanatory variables were the sexual orientation (lesbian, gay, bisexual, heterosexual), COVID-19 status, and financial security (job loss or reduced/lost wages because of the COVID-19 pandemic). Multilevel logistic regression analysis models with robust estimation were built and used to assess the association between the outcome and explanatory variables. The models were adjusted for sociodemographic profile (age, sex at birth, education status). Results: Being a sexual minority was associated with higher odds of worsened relationship with family (AOR: 1.49) and friends and peers (AOR: 2.38) during the pandemic. Having COVID-19 symptoms but not getting tested was significantly associated with higher odds of reporting worsening of the relationship with family (AOR: 1.69) and history of job loss (AOR: 1.68), while having formal education (p<0.05) was significantly associated with lower odds of reporting worsening of the relationship with family. The factors significantly associated with higher odds of reporting worsened relationship with friends and peers were testing positive for COVID-19 (AOR: 1.60), reduced wages (AOR: 1.24), and being older (AOR: 1.01). Attaining a college/university education was significantly associated with lower odds of worsened relationship with friends and peers (AOR: 0.31). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic may increase the risk of negative disruptions in the relationships with family, friends and peers, especially for sexual minorities. National COVID-19 response programs should include plans to support those who face social disruption in managing the crisis.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Collie ◽  
Luke Sheehan ◽  
Caryn van Vreden ◽  
Genevieve Grant ◽  
Peter Whiteford ◽  
...  

AbstractIntroductionThis study estimated the extent of psychological distress among people losing work during the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Australia, and examined associations between distress, nature of work loss and degree of social interaction.MethodsData were from a baseline online survey of an inception cohort recruited in the weeks following the introduction of physical distancing and movement restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Australia. These restrictions resulted in widespread unemployment and working hour reduction. Psychological distress was measured using the Kessler-6 scale. Data on nature of work loss, social interactions, demographic, job and occupational characteristics were also collected. Regression modelling was conducted to determine the relationship between work loss, social interactions and psychological distress, accounting for confounders.ResultsAmong the 551 study participants 31% reported severe psychological distress, 35% in those with job loss and 28% in those still employed but working less. Those who had significantly greater odds of high psychological distress were younger, female, had lost their job and had lower social interactions. The relationship between job loss and distress became non-significant when financial stress, and occupation were included in the regression model, but the protective effect of higher social interactions remained significant.DiscussionThere was a high prevalence of psychological distress in people losing work during the coronavirus pandemic. Age, gender, job loss and social interactions were strongly associated with distress. Interventions that promote social interaction may help to reduce distress during among people losing work during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Author(s):  
Yen-Ju Lin ◽  
Yu-Ping Chang ◽  
Wen-Jiun Chou ◽  
Cheng-Fang Yen

The present study compared the levels of explicit and intrinsic intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination among sexual minority and heterosexual individuals and examined the association of explicit and intrinsic intentions with sexual orientation. We enrolled 171 sexual minority and 876 heterosexual individuals through a Facebook advertisement. The participants’ explicit and intrinsic intentions to receive COVID-19 vaccination and their risk perception of COVID-19 were measured. We discovered that sexual minority individuals had higher levels of explicit and intrinsic intention to receive vaccination relative to heterosexual individuals. Intrinsic intention was positively associated with explicit intention after the effects of demographic characteristics and risk perception of COVID-19 were controlled for. Sexual orientation did not moderate the association between explicit and intrinsic intentions. The present study determined the relationship between sexual orientation and intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination.


Author(s):  
John F. Dovidio ◽  
Louis A. Penner ◽  
Sarah K. Calabrese ◽  
Rebecca L. Pearl

This chapter reviews evidence of stigma and differences in physical health between members of dominant social groups and select disadvantaged social groups (defined by race, sexual orientation, and weight) and considers the direct and indirect ways that stigma can contribute to these differences in health. The goal of this chapter is to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between stigma and health disparities for members of these groups. It considers how enacted, anticipated, and internalized stigmas influence, to varying degrees, health and health disparities experienced by Blacks, sexual minorities, and people with overweight or obesity. The chapter concludes by suggesting promising future directions for research. The new insights provided by this theoretical understanding can lead to interventions that reduce stigma as well as help members of these (and other) stigmatized groups better cope with the stigma they confront in their lives and thus realize better psychological and physical health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 2497-2510
Author(s):  
Olakunle Ayokunmi Oginni ◽  
Patrick Jern ◽  
Frühling Vesta Rijsdijk

Abstract Increased risky sexual behavior in sexual minorities relative to heterosexual individuals may be partly explained by mental health disparities, and both factors may be further jointly influenced by common genetic and environmental factors. However, these relationships have not been previously investigated. The objectives of the present study were to investigate mental health disparities as a mediator of the relationship between sexual orientation and risky sexual behavior, controlling for genetic and environmental effects in this relationship and testing for sex differences. Participants included 5814 twins from a Finnish twin cohort. Specified latent factors included sexual orientation, mental health indicators, and risky sexual behavior. Twin models were fitted to the factor structure of the data whereby a Cholesky decomposition on the factors was compared to a mediation submodel using OpenMx. Sex differences were tested in the final model. Phenotypically, mental health disparities partially mediated the relationship between sexual orientation and increased risky sexual behavior, with comparable effects in males and females. However, while this indirect route from sexual orientation to risky sexual behavior mainly contained transmitted genetic effects in males, there was a significant proportion of transmitted shared environmental effects in females. This is the first study to demonstrate that the mediation relationships between sexual orientation, mental health disparities, and risky sexual behavior are not confounded by genetic and environmental factors. The significant sex differences need to be recognized in future research and intervention design to improve sexual health in sexual minorities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-435
Author(s):  
Patricia C. Mancini ◽  
Richard S. Tyler ◽  
Hyung Jin Jun ◽  
Tang-Chuan Wang ◽  
Helena Ji ◽  
...  

Purpose The minimum masking level (MML) is the minimum intensity of a stimulus required to just totally mask the tinnitus. Treatments aimed at reducing the tinnitus itself should attempt to measure the magnitude of the tinnitus. The objective of this study was to evaluate the reliability of the MML. Method Sample consisted of 59 tinnitus patients who reported stable tinnitus. We obtained MML measures on two visits, separated by about 2–3 weeks. We used two noise types: speech-shaped noise and high-frequency emphasis noise. We also investigated the relationship between the MML and tinnitus loudness estimates and the Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire (THQ). Results There were differences across the different noise types. The within-session standard deviation averaged across subjects varied between 1.3 and 1.8 dB. Across the two sessions, the Pearson correlation coefficients, range was r = .84. There was a weak relationship between the dB SL MML and loudness, and between the MML and the THQ. A moderate correlation ( r = .44) was found between the THQ and loudness estimates. Conclusions We conclude that the dB SL MML can be a reliable estimate of tinnitus magnitude, with expected standard deviations in trained subjects of about 1.5 dB. It appears that the dB SL MML and loudness estimates are not closely related.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siddharth Garg

Objective: The aim of this paper was to examine the relationship between income, subjective wellbeing, and culture among people from a higher socio-economic class across the world. Rationale: Ed Diener proposed the law of diminishing marginal utility as an explanation for differences in subjective wellbeing among different income groups across different countries (Diener, Ng, &amp; Tov, Balance in life and declining marginal utility of diverse resources, 2009). Thus, people with higher incomes would experience less subjective wellbeing due to income, and culture should emerge as a significant predictor. Method: Data from this study came from another study (https://siddharthgargblog.wordpress.com/2019/07/14/love-for-money/). I used an online survey to collect data on annual income in US dollars, subjective wellbeing (WHO-5), and country of residence (Indicator of Culture). 96 responses (Indians = 24, Foreigners = 72) were entered in IBM SPSS and a regression analysis was conducted. The raw dataset used in this study can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8869040.v1Results: ANOVA showed a significant difference (p &lt; 0.05) between Indians and foreigners on levels of subjective wellbeing. Linear regression shows the regression coefficient of culture to be significant (Beta = -.254, p = .014) but the regression coefficient of income was not found to be significant. The overall model was found to explain 8.2% of the variance in wellbeing.Conclusion: The sample of this study is too small to make any kind of generalization; it does lend a little bit of support to the idea of diminishing marginal utility of income on subjective wellbeing and provides a rationale for further research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salman Khazaei ◽  
Erfan Ayubi ◽  
Saeid Bashirian ◽  
Ronak Hamzehei ◽  
Ensiyeh Jenabi

Background: The relationship between gestational diabetes and postpartum depression (PPD) is poorly understood and seldom studied. Objective: In an effort to explore this issue, the present study investigated the relationship between gestational diabetes and PPD. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was performed with 342 women who were referred to four urban health centers of Hamadan city, west of Iran. We used convenience sampling as a method to recruit women in each health center. We used a researcher-made checklist for gathering data on socio-demographic characteristics and potential risk factors of PPD. The Persian validated version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was used to assess PPD. Univariate and multivariable binary logistic regression was applied to estimate the odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval [CI]). Results: Gestational diabetes was identified as the most important risk factor for PPD with OR (95% CI) of 2.19 (1.11, 4.31); P-value=0.02 after adjusting for other variables. Moreover, the adjusted odds ratio showed that PPD among lesseducated women (primary school) was 3.5 times higher compared to women with a university education (OR=3.54, 95% CI: 1.27, 9.84; P-value=0.01). Conclusion: Our findings suggested that PPD is more likely among women with gestational diabetes and those who were less educated. Interventional and educational activities for reducing the risk of PPD can be targeted for use with this population.


Author(s):  
David Willetts

Universities have a crucial role in the modern world. In England, entrance to universities is by nation-wide competition which means English universities have an exceptional influence on schools--a striking theme of the book. This important book first investigates the university as an institution and then tracks the individual on their journey to and through university. In A University Education, David Willetts presents a compelling case for the ongoing importance of the university, both as one of the great institutions of modern society and as a transformational experience for the individual. The book also makes illuminating comparisons with higher education in other countries, especially the US and Germany. Drawing on his experience as UK Minister for Universities and Science from 2010 to 2014, the author offers a powerful account of the value of higher education and the case for more expansion. He covers controversial issues in which he was involved from access for disadvantaged students to the introduction of L9,000 fees. The final section addresses some of the big questions for the future, such as the the relationship between universities and business, especially in promoting innovation.. He argues that the two great contemporary trends of globalisation and technological innovation will both change the university significantly. This is an authoritative account of English universities setting them for the first time in their new legal and regulatory framework.


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