LGBT Adults Are More Likely to Be Unemployed and Uninsured
In the United States, sexual minorities are less likely than their straight peers to have jobs and health insurance, according to a study conducted at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. The results, published online in BMJ Open, also suggest that LGBT adults are more likely to report having poorer health and a lower quality of life than straight adults.
The Harvard researchers analyzed responses from about 10,000 participants 18 to 32 from an ongoing study that began in 1996. The data included information about lifestyle, health, environmental factors, sexual identity, sexual orientation, and quality of life (mobility, self-care, ability to perform routine tasks, and levels of pain, discomfort, anxiety, and depression, for example).
In a 2013 follow-up, the researchers found that overall, male and female sexual minorities were about twice as likely as those who identified as straight to have been unemployed or uninsured within the previous year and were more likely to report poorer health and quality of life. Other study findings:
- Bisexual women were nearly four times more likely to be uninsured than their straight peers.
- Gay men were nearly 50 percent more likely and gay women were 84 percent more likely to be unemployed due to illness or disability than straight men and women.
Sourced from: BMJ Open