A Syndemic of Psychosocial Health Disparities and Associations With Rifor Attempting Suicide Among Young Sexual Minority Men

B. Mustanski, R. Andrews, A. Herrick, R. Stall and P.W. Schnarrs

American Journal of Public Health, 2014, vol. 104, issue 2, 287-294

Abstract: Objectives. We examined a syndemic of psychosocial health issues among young men who have sex with men (MSM), with men and women (MSMW), and with women (MSW). We examined hypothesized drivers of syndemic production and effects on suicide attempts. Methods. Using a pooled data set of 2005 and 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from 11 jurisdictions, we used structural equation modeling to model a latent syndemic factor of depression symptoms, substance use, risky sex, and intimate partner violence. Multigroup models examined relations between victimization and bullying experiences, syndemic health issues, and serious suicide attempts. Results. We found experiences of victimization to increase syndemic burden among all male youths, especially MSMW and MSM compared with MSW (variance explained = 44%, 38%, and 10%, respectively). The syndemic factor was shown to increase the odds of reporting a serious suicide attempt, particularly for MSM (odds ratio [OR] = 5.75; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.36, 24.39; P > .001) and MSMW (OR = 5.08; 95% CI = 2.14, 12.28; P > .001) compared with MSW (OR = 3.47; 95% CI = 2.50, 4.83; P > .001). Conclusions. Interventions addressing multiple psychosocial health outcomes should be developed and tested to better meet the needs of young MSM and MSMW.

Keywords: addiction; adolescent; article; crime victim; depression; ethnology; health disparity; human; male; male homosexuality; partner violence; psychological aspect; sexual behavior; sexuality; statistics; suicide attempt; United States; violence, Adolescent; Crime Victims; Depression; Health Status Disparities; Homosexuality, Male; Humans; Male; Sexual Behavior; Sexuality; Spouse Abuse; Substance-Related Disorders; Suicide, Attempted; United States; Violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2013.301744

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2013.301744_9

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301744

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().