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. 2021 Jun 23;18(13):6759.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18136759.

Family Support and Sociocultural Factors on Depression among Black and Latinx Sexual Minority Men

Donte T Boyd  1   2 , S Raquel Ramos  3 , Camille R Quinn  1 , Kristian V Jones  4 , Leo Wilton  5   6 , LaRon E Nelson  2   7   8
Affiliations

Family Support and Sociocultural Factors on Depression among Black and Latinx Sexual Minority Men

Donte T Boyd et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Family-based approaches are critical for improving health outcomes in sexual minority men (SMM) of color. Yet, it is unclear how family context, internalized homophobia, and stress influence mental health outcomes among sexual minority men of color. From a cross-sectional sample of 448 participants, aged 16-24 years, survey data were analyzed to examine rates of family social support, the perception of sexuality by family, the stressfulness of life events, internalized homophobia, and other contextual variables on depression using linear regression. Our results indicated that an 86% increase in family social support was related to a -0.14 decrease in depression (ß = -0.14, p = 0.004). In addition, SMM who were separated by family and friends because of their sexuality were statistically significant and positively associated with depression (ß = 0.09, p < 0.001). Findings from our study suggest that the influence from the microsystem is salient in modifying mental health outcomes for SMM of color.

Keywords: depression; families; internalized homophobia; sexual minority men; stressful life events.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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