Primary Submission Category: Mental health/function
Sexual Identity Centrality and Health Across Age Cohorts
Authors: Kristen Gustafson Wendy Manning Monica Longmore Claire Kamp Dush
Presenting Author: Kristen Gustafson*
Younger people more often report sexual minority (SM) identities such that about 20% of individuals ages 18-25 identify as LGBTQ+ (Jones, 2023). While many studies examine LGBTQ+ identities and health outcomes, only a handful of studies consider how central these identities are to individuals. Identity centrality (IC) is the importance of psychological attachment that individuals place on their identities and among those with SM identities linked to mental and physical health outcomes (Quinn et al., 2014). The objective of this study is to examine differences in sexual IC across two age groups and assess the role of IC on mental and physical health. We draw on a population-based data source, the National Couples’ Health and Time Study (NCHAT), which oversampled partnered sexual and gender diverse populations ages 20-60. We examine variation in IC for respondents with specific SM identities (gay/lesbian, bisexual, and another) (n=1,612) across two age groups (20-39 and 40-60). We expect respondents who identify as gay or lesbian and in the younger age group will have higher levels of sexual IC than those in the older age group. We also anticipate that IC will amplify the association between sexual identity and health outcomes for both age cohorts. We find IC is greater for gay and lesbian respondents for the whole sample (mean = 3.72; range 1-5) when compared with bisexual (3.11) and those reporting another sexual identity (3.29). This holds up across age groups who reported greater IC levels. Among younger respondents, IC is associated with higher levels of depression and worse physical health for gay and lesbian respondents, but not for other sexual identities or for older respondents. These results illustrate key sexual identity differences across different birth cohorts and the implications for health outcomes. This work showcases the importance of considering more than simply identity and focusing on the saliency of identities across age groups.