Gay/Lesbian sexual orientation increases risk for cigarette smoking and heavy drinking among members of a large Northern California health plan

Gruskin, Elisabeth P.; Gordon, Nancy P.

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-6-241

Cited by 57 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…In addition, Bybee and colleagues (2009) show that the mental health disadvantage among gay men wanes with age, while across the life course lesbians display consistently worse mental and physical health than heterosexual women (Case et al 2004;Dilley et al 2010), more often smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol in excess (Gruskin and Gordon 2006;Lee, Griffin and Melvin 2009), and are more often overweight or obese (Boehmer and Bowen 2009).…”

Section: Families and Sexual Minority Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Families, Resources, and Adult Health

2013

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Extensive research documents the relevance of families and socioeconomic resources to health. This article extends that research to sexual minorities, using 12 years of the National Health Interview Survey ( N = 460,459) to examine self-evaluations of health among male and female adults living in same-sex and different-sex relationships. Adjusting for socioeconomic status eliminates differences between same- and different-sex cohabitors so that they have similarly higher odds of poor health relative to married persons. Results by gender reveal that the cohabitation disadvantage for health is more pronounced for different-sex cohabiting women than for men, but little difference exists between same-sex cohabiting men and women. Finally, the presence of children in the home is more protective for women’s than men’s health, but those protections are specific to married women. In all, the results elucidate the importance of relationship type, gender, and the presence of children when evaluating health.

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Section: Families and Sexual Minority Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Families, Resources, and Adult Health

2013

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“…In fact, lesbian participants were the most likely to report heavy drinking, at twice the rates of bisexual and four times the rate of heterosexual women. These findings are consistent with those of other studies, including those employing random samples (Gruskin & Gordon, 2006;Coulter et al, 2016). It was also expected that women with exclusively same-sex sexual partners or both male and female sexual partners would report more heavy drinking that peers who had only male partners.…”

Section: Risk For Infertility As Function Of Sexual Identity Sexual supporting

confidence: 90%

“…A random sample of adult Californians also found that sexual minority women were twice as likely as heterosexual peers to RISK FOR INFERTILITY AS FUNCTION OF SEXUAL IDENTITY, SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, AND RACE AMONG U.S. WOMEN 23 be heavy drinkers (Gruskin & Gordon, 2006). These findings are supported in previous qualitative work that suggested lesbian and bisexual women's normative risky use of alcohol was often driven by a sense of community connection (Drabble & Trocki, 2013).…”

Section: Risk For Infertility As Function Of Sexual Identity Sexual supporting

confidence: 59%

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Risk for Infertility as a Function of Sexual identity, Sexual Behavior, and Race Among Women in the United States

Blanchfield¹

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Infertility affects approximately ten percent of women in the United States every year. There has been consistent evidence indicating that sexually transmitted infections (which are commonly cited risks for infertility) disproportionately affect non-White women, and racial minority women are nearly twice as likely as White women to experience infertility issues. However, comparable research that addresses the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and/or infertility among sexual minority women is limited and inconsistent. Varied reports are due in part to researchers' restricted focus on behavior rather than identity-based approaches to sexual minority women's health experiences. The dearth of information is exacerbated by the operating definition of infertility (i.e., the failure to conceive following 12 months of heterosexual intercourse), which does not typically apply to sexual minority women. A framework of stratified reproduction, which takes into account the contribution of systemic inequities to minority women's reproductive health, may help reveal and explain disparities in risk for infertility among racial and sexual minority-identified women.Moreover, stratified reproduction also suggests that an underlying social experience common to both racial minority and sexual minority women (such as adolescent housing instability), may partially explain disparities in risk for infertility.The present study examined the sexually transmitted infection prevalence and overall risk for infertility among women in the United States as a function of race, sexual identity, and-so as to better differentiate the role of identity versus behavior-sexual behavior. The present study thus had three aims. The first aim was to establish the rates of various sexually transmitted infections that can threaten women's fertility as a function of sexual identity, sexual behavior, and race. The second aim was to determine how other commonly studied risk factors for infertility, (i.e., certain reproductive illnesses, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, and high or low bodyweight) might also be associated with sexual identity, sexual behavior, and race. These factors were examined in conjunction with RISK FOR INFERTILITY AS FUNCTION OF SEXUAL IDENTITY, SEXUAL BEHAVIOR, AND RACE AMONG U.S. WOMEN iv findings about sexually transmitted infections to construct a novel Risk for Infertility measure that allowed for a comparative risk assessment among women as a function of their racial identity, sexual identity, and sexual behavior. The third and final aim of this study was to test whether adolescent housing instability-for which sexual minority and racial minority individuals have both been at increased risk-might mediate the disparity in risk for infertility that emerged as a function of sexual identity, sexual behavior, and race among participants.The sample consisted of 4,990 women (representative of over 53 million women in the United States), ages 15-44, who participated in the 2011-3013 National Survey of Family Growth. As ...

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“…Numerous studies have raised concerns about heightened breast cancer risk among lesbians due to nulliparity and behavioral risk factors (Bradford, Ryan, & Rothblum, 1994;Case et al, 2004;Diamant, 2000;De'Angelis, 1994;Gruskin & Gordon, 2006;O'Hanlan, 1995). For instance, some researchers found lesbians to have higher 5-year and lifetime risk scores using the Gail Breast Cancer Risk Model (Gail et al, 1989), attributing higher risk largely to reproductive risk factors (Brandenburg et al, 2007;Dibble, Roberts, & Nussey, 2004).…”

Section: Believe Progress Has Been Made Over the Years However Wementioning

confidence: 99%

Breast Health Behavior Among Lesbians: The Role of Health Beliefs, Heterosexism, and Homophobia

DeHart

2008

WWAH

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The Health Belief Model was used as a conceptual framework for exploring how health beliefs and perceptions of heterosexism and homophobia in health care relate to lesbians' breast health behaviors, including use of breast exams and mammograms, visits to health care providers, and use of complementary/alternative care. A total of 173 exclusively homosexual women completed survey measures assessing health beliefs, experiences of heterosexism/homophobia, and health maintenance behaviors as these related to breast health. Findings indicated that women perceived heterosexism and homophobia from providers to influence the amount of discussion they had with providers and, to a lesser extent, care received, frequency of service use, and health outcomes. Perceptions of heterosexism and homophobia in health care settings significantly contributed, beyond routine health beliefs, to women's use of breast self-exams, visitation to health care providers, and use of complementary/alternative care. Implications for culturally competent care are discussed.

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Gay/Lesbian sexual orientation increases risk for cigarette smoking and heavy drinking among members of a large Northern California health plan

Abstract: Background and significance: Tobacco and alcohol use and related morbidity and mortality are critical public health problems. Results of several, but not all, studies suggest that lesbians and gay men are at elevated risk for smoking tobacco and alcohol misuse.

Cited by 57 publications

References 38 publications

Families, Resources, and Adult Health

Families, Resources, and Adult Health

Risk for Infertility as a Function of Sexual identity, Sexual Behavior, and Race Among Women in the United States

Breast Health Behavior Among Lesbians: The Role of Health Beliefs, Heterosexism, and Homophobia

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