Young Sexual Minority Women's Mental Health: Developmental Trajectories, Mechanisms of Risk, and Protective Factors.

性少数女性经历精神健康问题的比例高得惊人，包括焦虑 精神障碍、抑郁症和自杀倾向，这些都明显高于异性恋女性。 性少数的男人。该项目的总体目标是解决这些心理健康差异 并通过开展一项关于性少数群体妇女的研究， 对年轻性少数群体妇女心理健康的创新性纵向研究。建立在有史以来最大的 对年轻的性少数女性进行的纵向队列研究，其中包括3年多来收集的7波数据。 从390名不同种族的参与者（基线年龄为16-20岁）中，我们将收集另外六波 超过2.5年的数据（从21-26岁开始），扩大了对心理健康、风险和保护措施的测量 影响因素和作用机制。我们有四个具体目标：（1）性少数的模式轨迹 女性的心理健康，包括抑郁，焦虑，以及青春期后期和早期的自杀倾向 成年期（16-28岁），并探讨这些模式中的人口统计学差异（例如，按种族、性别 身份）。(2)以少数民族压力理论为基础，严格测试独特的基于耻辱的精神疾病风险因素， 性少数群体妇女的健康状况。(3)探索生物学、心理学和社会/人际关系 少数群体压力对性少数群体妇女的心理健康产生负面影响的机制。 具体地说，我们将测试应激敏感性炎症过程（C-反应蛋白，IL-6，IL-10， TNFa）、适应不良的情绪调节和认知过程（例如，绝望（hopelessness）， 受损的社会过程（社会孤立;浪漫关系功能）介导了 少数民族压力和心理健康。(4)确定个人、社区和人际保护因素， 缓冲性少数群体妇女因少数群体压力而产生的不利心理健康影响。跨越目标，该项目 重点是确定可以在干预中针对的可变因素，并与当今的年轻人有关 性少数女性，她们在种族、性别认同和特定的性取向认同方面具有多样性。 研究结果将用于制定基于证据的、对文化敏感的干预措施， 治疗这个弱势群体的精神疾病本建议书是对NOT-MD-19-001（ 对SGM人群健康研究的特别兴趣），鼓励研究描述 影响性和性别少数群体（SGM）健康的生物和社会过程， 制定干预措施，以提高SGM的健康。

Sexual minority women experience alarmingly high rates of mental health problems, including anxiety disorders, depression, and suicidality, which are significantly higher than those of both heterosexual women and sexual minority men. The overarching goals of this project are to address these mental health disparities and advance our ability to prevent and treat mental illness among sexual minority women by conducting an innovative, longitudinal study of mental health in young sexual minority women. Building upon the largest ever longitudinal cohort study of young sexual minority women, which includes seven waves of data collected over 3 years from 390 racially diverse participants (ages 16-20 at baseline), we will collect an additional six waves of data over 2.5 years (starting at ages 21-26) with expanded measurement of mental health, risk and protective factors, and mechanisms of effect. We have four specific aims: (1) Model trajectories of sexual minority women’s mental health, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality across late adolescence and early adulthood (16-28 years), and explore demographic differences in these patterns (e.g., by race, gender identity). (2) Grounded in minority stress theory, rigorously test unique stigma-based risk factors for mental health among sexual minority women. (3) Explore biological, psychological, and social/interpersonal mechanisms through which minority stress negatively affects sexual minority women’s mental health. Specifically, we will test whether stress-sensitive inflammatory processes (C- reactive protein, IL-6, IL-10, TNFa), maladaptive emotion regulation and cognitive processes (e.g., rumination; hopelessness), and impaired social processes (social isolation; romantic relationship functioning) mediate associations between minority stress and mental health. (4) Identify individual, community, and interpersonal protective factors that buffer sexual minority women from adverse mental health effects of minority stress. Across aims, the project focuses on identifying mutable factors that can be targeted in interventions and are relevant to today’s young sexual minority women, who are diverse in race, gender identity, and specific sexual orientation identity. Findings will be used to inform development of evidence-based, culturally sensitive interventions to prevent and treat mental illness in this vulnerable group. This proposal is responsive to NOT-MD-19-001(Notice of Special Interest in Research on the Health of SGM Populations), which encourages research describing biological and social processes affecting the health of sexual and gender minorities (SGM) that will lead to the development of interventions to enhance SGM health.