Work-related Stressors and Mental Health Among LGBTQ Workers: Results From a Cross-sectional Survey
Abstract Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals experience high rates of adverse mental health outcomes due to the stressors they experience in families, communities, and society more broadly. Work and workplaces also have the potential to influence these outcomes given the substantial amount of time spent at work, and the ability of work to further influence social and economic wellbeing in this already vulnerable population. This study aims to identify how sociodemographic characteristics and characteristics of work, including industry, work environment and degree of precarity, influence self-reported mental health among LGBTQ people in two Canadian cities.Methods: Self-identified LGBTQ workers ≥16 years of age (n = 531) in Sudbury and Windsor, Ontario, Canada were surveyed. Multivariate ordinal logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) to evaluate differences in gender identity, age, income, industry, social precarity, work environment, and substance use among workers who reported poor or neutral mental health, compared with a referent group that reported good mental health.Results: Compared with a referent group with good mental health, LGBTQ workers with poor or neutral mental health had greater odds of: being cisgender women or trans compared with being cisgender men; being aged <35 years compared with ≥35 years; working in low-wage service sectors compared with blue collar jobs; earning <$20,000/year compared with ≥20,000; working in a non-standard work situation or being unemployed compared with working in full-time permanent employment; feeling often or always unable to schedule time with friends due to work; feeling unsure or negative about their work environment; and using substances to cope with work.Conclusions: LGBTQ workers reporting poorer mental health had higher odds of being unemployed or working in jobs that were more precarious and less supportive of their gender identity or sexual orientation.