scholarly journals Alcohol use among sexual minority women: Methods used and lessons learned in the 20-Year Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tonda Hughes ◽  
Sharon Wilsnack ◽  
Kelly Martin ◽  
Alicia Matthews ◽  
Timothy Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
Sexual Minority Women ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Experiences Of Women

Background: Two decades ago, there was almost no research on alcohol use among sexual minority women (SMW, e.g., lesbian, bisexual). Since then, a growing body of scientific literature documents substantial sexual orientation-related disparities in alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Research has identified multiple risk factors associated with high-risk/hazardous drinking among SMW. However, this research has almost exclusively used cross-sectional designs, limiting the ability to draw conclusions about processes through which sexual minority status affects alcohol use. Longitudinal designs, although very rare in research on alcohol use among SMW, are important for testing mediational mechanisms and necessary to understanding how changes in social determinants impact alcohol use. Aim: To describe the processes and lessons learned in conducting a 20-year longitudinal study focused on alcohol use among SMW. Methods: The Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study includes five waves of data collection (2000–present) with an age and racially/ethnically diverse sample of 815 SMW (ages 18–83) originally recruited in the Chicago Metropolitan Area in Illinois, a midwestern state in the United States (U.S.). Measures and focus have evolved over the course of the study. Results: The CHLEW study is the longest-running and most comprehensive study of SMW’s drinking in the U.S. or elsewhere. Findings reported in more than 50 published manuscripts have contributed to understanding variations in SMW’s risk for hazardous/harmful drinking based on sexual identity, age, race/ethnicity, sex/gender of partner, and many other factors. Conclusions: By describing the process used in conducting this long-term study, its major findings, and the lessons learned, we hope to encourage and support other researchers in conducting longitudinal research focused on SMW’s health. Such research is critically important in understanding and ultimately eliminating sexual orientation-related health disparities.

scholarly journals The Association between Hazardous Drinking Indicators and Drinking Problem Concerns among Sexual Minority Women

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-335
Author(s):  
Margaret M. Paschen-Wolff ◽  
Jennifer M. Putney ◽  
Thomas Corbeil ◽  
Tse-Hwei Choo ◽  
Tonda L. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
Hazardous Drinking ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
Sexual Minority Women ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Drinking Problem ◽  
Reduction Strategies ◽  
Experiences Of Women

Sexual minority women (SMW) report high rates of hazardous drinking (HD), treatment utilization that is not commensurate with need, and low perceived alcohol use severity. This study examined SMW's drinking problem concerns by sexual identity and other demographic characteristics, and the strength of associations between endorsement of unique HD indicators and drinking problem concerns. Data were from a supplemental sample of SMW added in Wave 3 of the longitudinal, community-based Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women (CHLEW) study. HD was measured using a validated 13-item HD Index (HDI). Multivariable logistic regression models examined independent associations between past-five-year drinking problem concerns and each HD indicator. Twelve HD indicators were significantly associated with past-five-year drinking problem concerns, adjusting for age and sexual identity. Adjusted odds ratios varied from 2.44 for driving drunk to 15.52 for drinking first thing in the morning. After adjusting for number of HD indicators endorsed, associations were no longer significant, indicating that number of endorsed indicators was a more important predictor of drinking problem concerns than were individual HD indicators. Early intervention and harm reduction strategies could support SMW in addressing salient aspects of HD before progression to alcohol use disorder.

scholarly journals Sexual Orientation and Sexual and Reproductive Health among African American Sexual Minority Women in the U.S. South

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 612-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madina Agénor ◽  
S. Bryn Austin ◽  
Daniel Kort ◽  
Erika L. Austin ◽  
Christina A. Muzny
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
Sexual Minority Women ◽  
The U.S

scholarly journals Changes in Sexual Identity and Associations With Alcohol Use and Depression Among Young Adult Sexual Minority Women

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 623-630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Feinstein ◽  
Isaac C. Rhew ◽  
Kimberley A. Hodge ◽  
Tonda L. Hughes ◽  
Debra Kaysen
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
Sexual Minority Women

Gender-based Structural Stigma and Intimate Partner Violence Across 28 Countries: A Population-based Study of Women Across Sexual Orientation, Immigration Status, and Socioeconomic Status

2020 ◽  
pp. 088626052097621
Author(s):  
Jillian R. Scheer ◽  
John E. Pachankis ◽  
Richard Bränström
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
Sexual Minority Women ◽  
Gender Based

Reducing structural drivers of intimate partner violence (IPV), including gender inequity in education, employment, and health, surrounding women worldwide represents a clear public health priority. Within countries, some women are at disproportionate risk of IPV compared to other women, including sexual minority women, immigrant women, and women in poverty. However, limited research has assessed women’s IPV risk and related circumstances, including police involvement following IPV experiences and IPV-related worry, across sexual orientation, immigration status, and socioeconomic status in a population-based survey of women across countries. Further, few studies have examined IPV against minority women as a function of gender-based structural stigma. This study aimed to determine whether gender-based structural stigma is associated with IPV and related circumstances among European women; examine minority-majority IPV disparities; and assess whether structural stigma is associated with IPV disparities. We used the population-based 2012 Violence Against Women Survey ( n = 42,000) administered across 28 European Union countries: 724 (1.7%) identified as sexual minority, 841 (2.0%) as immigrant, and 2,272 (5.4%) as living in poverty. Women in high gender-based structural stigma countries had a greater risk of past-12-month IPV (AOR: 1.18, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.34) and IPV-related worry (AOR: 1.09, 95% CI = 1.04, 1.15) than women in low structural stigma countries. All minority women were at disproportionate risk of IPV and IPV-related worry compared to majority women. Associations between gender-based structural stigma and IPV and related circumstances differed across minority status. Country-level structural stigma can possibly perpetuate women’s risk of IPV and related circumstances. Associations between structural stigma and IPV and related circumstances for sexual minority women, immigrant women, and women in poverty call for research into the IPV experiences of minority populations across structural contexts.

scholarly journals Attitudes Toward Motherhood Among Sexual Minority Women in the United States

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (13) ◽  
pp. 1771-1796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Kazyak ◽  
Nicholas Park ◽  
Julia McQuillan ◽  
Arthur L. Greil
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
The United States ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
Sexual Minority Women ◽  
Attitudes Toward Motherhood

scholarly journals Mothers’ Sexual Identity and Children’s Health

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Mollborn ◽  
Aubrey Limburg ◽  
Bethany G. Everett
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Sexual Identity ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health ◽  
Sexual Minority Women ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Mostly Heterosexual ◽  
Minority Identities

AbstractSexual minority women face a plethora of structural, socioeconomic, and interpersonal disadvantages and stressors. Research has established negative associations between women’s sexual minority identities and both their own health and their infants’ birth outcomes. Yet a separate body of scholarship has documented similarities in the development and well-being of children living with same-sex couples relative to those living with similarly situated different-sex couples. This study sought to reconcile these literatures by examining the association between maternal sexual identity and child health at ages 5–18 using a US sample from the full population of children of sexual minority women, including those who identify as mostly heterosexual, bisexual, or lesbian, regardless of partner sex or gender. Analyses using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 8978) followed women longitudinally and examined several measures of their children’s health, including general health and specific developmental and physical health conditions. Analyses found that children of mostly heterosexual and bisexual women experienced health disadvantages relative to children of heterosexual women, whereas the few children of lesbian women in our sample evidenced a mixture of advantages and disadvantages. These findings underscore that to understand sexual orientation disparities and the intergenerational transmission of health, it is important to incorporate broad measurement of sexual orientation that can capture variation in family forms and in sexual minority identities.

scholarly journals Illicit and Prescription Drug Misuse among Sexual Minority Women in the United States: A Protocol for a Scoping Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Kelly Gagnon ◽  
Jessica Frankeberger ◽  
Stephanie Corey ◽  
Barbara L. Folb ◽  
Christina Mair ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Substance Use ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Prescription Drug ◽  
Sexual Minority ◽  
The United States ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Sexual Minority Women ◽  
Prescription Drug Misuse

  Background: The United States Institute of Medicine (IOM) published reports in 1999 and 2011 identifying drug use as a priority area for sexual minority health research, specifically focused on mechanisms contributing to drug use disparities and the development of tailored interventions. Limited research has prioritized sexual minority women (SMW) with the majority of substance use research among sexual minorities focused on adolescents and men who have sex with men. This scoping review will characterize the research literature related to illicit drug use and prescription drug misuse among SMW and sub-groups within the SMW population. Through this, we will identify: (1) specific substances used; (2) patterns of substance use; (3) risk and protective factors; (4) prevention interventions; and (5) drug treatment programs specific to SMW. Methods/Design: This review will include studies with empirical data of illicit or prescription drug misuse among sexual minority women. Peer-reviewed quantitative research conducted in the United States and published in English from 2011-Present will be included. We will search Medline, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases for relevant articles. Two independent reviewers will screen abstracts and relevant full-text studies for eligibility. Data will be extracted from eligible articles and results will be presented in narrative and tabular form as appropriate. Discussion: This work will identify gaps of knowledge in the research pertaining to illicit or prescription drug misuse among sexual minority women since the 2011 US IOM report. As a result of this work, we will propose directions for future research to address identified gaps.

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