Journal
SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE
Volume 196, Issue -, Pages 158-165Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.033
Keywords
Context; Health care access; Population health; Sexual minority health status
Funding
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cooperative Agreement Rhode Island Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System [DP09-100102CONT11, S011-110102CONT12, S011-110103CONT13]
- Center for Health Data and Analysis, Rhode Island Department of Health
- National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cooperative Agreement [3U5850000044-02W1, 5U58DP001988]
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How social and legal climate influence LGB health is an under-studied topic. In response, this study examines whether the lesbian/gay/bisexual (LGB) climate index and presence of anti-discrimination law show population health significance for U.S. sexual minorities. The LGB climate index uses survey data collected between 2012 and 2013 to gauge states' support of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, whereas anti-discrimination law captures any state-level law that makes it illegal to discriminate because of sexual orientation in employment, housing, and public accommodations. We merge these two contextual measures with 2011-2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) aggregated, individual-level survey data, from which we generate three measures of state-level rates: excellent self-rated health, routine health care utilization, and health insurance among self-identified lesbian/gay and bisexual adults. We find that the LGB climate index associates positively with rates of excellent self-rated health, routine health care utilization, and health insurance-but only for states with anti-discrimination laws, and only among lesbian/gay adults. Analyses confirm salubrious synergism between a sexually-minority-friendly climate and anti-discrimination law-together these two contextual measures interact to protect lesbian/gay population health.
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