Doctoral Dissertation Research: Stigma, Social Structure, and Adolescent Mental Health

本论文的研究探讨性取向和青少年心理健康之间的关系，通过评估心理健康问题的社会决定因素之间的女同性恋，男同性恋和双性恋（LGB）青年。 该项目审查了这样一个前提，即作为一名女同性恋、男同性恋和双性恋青少年的经历会导致社会支持和社会网络经历的污名化，而这反过来又会产生心理健康问题的高风险。 本论文有两个研究目标。 第一个目标是使用具有全国代表性的数据集来概括LGB的社会支持经验，并评估这些经验如何影响他们的心理健康。 对于第二个目标，该项目使用社交网络数据来描述和比较LGB和异性恋青少年的社交网络经验，因为它们有助于心理健康结果。 本论文使用了两个来自国家青少年健康纵向研究（Add Health）的样本。 第一个样本是18,924名美国7至12年级青少年的全国代表性样本，他们于1995年首次接受采访，并于1996年和2001-2002年进行了两次随访。 第二个样本是7,106名学生的社交网络样本。 这个样本包含了16所学校所有参加第一波面试的注册学生的数据。 具有全国代表性的样本提供了一个更准确的描述LGB青少年的社会支持的经验。 在学校的同龄人网络的社会网络样本提供了更好的理解如何在社会群体的结构安排有心理健康的后果。 这项研究的更广泛的影响在于其研究结果的效用，以更好地为个人和社区层面的临床和政策战略提供信息，以减少LGB青少年的心理健康问题。

The dissertation research examines the relationship between sexual orientation and adolescent mental health by assessing the social determinants of mental health problems among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth. The project examines the premise that the experience of being a LGB adolescent leads to stigmatizing social support and social network experiences which in turn produce a high risk of mental health problems. The dissertation has two research goals. The first goal is to use a nationally-representative dataset to generalize about the social support experiences of LGB and evaluate how these experiences affect their mental health. For the second goal, the project uses social network data to describe and compare the social network experiences of LGB and heterosexual adolescents as they contribute to mental health outcomes. The dissertation uses two samples from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The first sample is a nationally-representative sample of 18,924 U.S. adolescents from grades 7 to 12 who were initially interviewed in 1995 with two follow-up interviews in 1996 and 2001-2002. The second sample is a social network sample of 7,106 students. This sample contains data from all enrolled students in 16 schools who participated in the Wave I interview. A nationally-representative sample gives a more accurate description of the social support experiences of LGB adolescents. A social network sample of peer networks in school provides greater understanding on how structural arrangements in social groups have consequences for mental health. The broader impacts of this research lie in the utility of its findings to better inform clinical and policy strategies at the individual and community levels in reducing mental health problems among LGB adolescents.