Sexual Minority Status As a Predictor of Mental Health, Physical Health, and Help-Seeking Among U.S. Veterans

Introduction Sexual minority Americans experience higher rates of mental and physical health problems than heterosexual Americans and veterans have higher rates of mental and physical health problems than non-veterans. However, little is known about the health of sexual minority veterans.

Methods After IRB approval, a sample of veterans residing in Los Angeles and Orange County were recruited using a non-probability sampling strategy including media campaigns, television advertisements, and local, state, and national organizations serving veterans. Binomial logistic regression was used to evaluate current and lifetime mental and physical health problems, as well as recent help-seeking among the sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual veterans (n=114) in comparison with heterosexual veterans (n= 2407).

Results After controlling for age, race, gender, military branch, marital status, and number of deployments, sexual minority veterans had double the odds of suffering current probable PTSD (p<.01), and 1.7 times the odds of suffering current probable Depression (p<.05) compared with heterosexual veterans. After controlling for age, race, gender, military branch, and number of deployments, sexual minority veterans had 1.7 times the odds of a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD (p<.05), nearly 3 times the odds of a lifetime diagnosis of Depression (p<.001), nearly 3 times the odds of a lifetime diagnosis of Anxiety (p<.001), 2.3 times the odds of receiving mental health counseling in the last year (p<.001), nearly twice the odds of having visited a medical professional for a physical health condition in the last month (p<.05), twice the odds of currently taking medication for mental health problems (p<.01), and nearly twice the odds of taking medication for physical health problems (p<.05) than heterosexual veterans. Controlling for age, race, gender, military branch, marital status, and number of deployments, sexual minority veterans who reported current probable PTSD and Depression were significantly more likely to be seeking help than heterosexual veterans who reported the same mental health symptomatology (p<.01).

Conclusions These findings suggest that sexual minority veterans may experience different or additional stressors that contribute to debilitating health problems. To determine appropriate interventions, additional studies are needed to identify specific mechanisms that contribute to these health disparities. The high rates at which sexual minority veterans are accessing mental health care underscores the importance of future studies that assess providers’ cultural-competence, as well as their ability to assess and treat stressors associated with sexual minority status.