Abstract
Knowing the age at which the sexual orientation disparity in depression and anxiety symptoms first emerges and the early determinants of this disparity can suggest optimal timing and targets of supportive interventions. This prospective cohort study of children ages 3 to 15 (n = 417; 10.6% same-sex-attracted; 47.2% assigned female at birth) and their parents sought to determine the age at which the sexual orientation disparity in depression and anxiety symptoms first emerges and whether peer victimization and poor parental relationships mediate this disparity. Same-sex-attracted youth first demonstrated significantly higher depression symptoms at age 12 and anxiety symptoms at age 15 than exclusively other-sex-attracted youth. Age 12 peer victimization mediated the sexual orientation disparity in age 15 depression symptoms. Age 12 poor mother–child relationship mediated the sexual orientation disparity in age 15 anxiety symptoms. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for developmentally appropriate interventions against social stress during early development.
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Authors’ Contributions
JP conceptualized and designed the current study, drafted the manuscript, reviewed and supervised data analyses; KC conducted the data analyses, drafted the manuscript, reviewed and revised the manuscript; DK conceptualized and designed the Stony Brook Temperament Study, coordinated and supervised data collection, critically reviewed the manuscript for important intellectual content; LD conceptualized and designed the current study, drafted the manuscript, reviewed and supervised data analyses. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Funding
All phases of this study were supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH069942). Data analyses and manuscript preparation were supported by the David R. Kessler, MD ’55 Fund for LGBTQ Mental Health Research at Yale. The National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH125073) supported a portion of Kirsty Clark’s effort on the data analyses and manuscript preparation. The study funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study.
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The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Pachankis, J.E., Clark, K.A., Klein, D.N. et al. Early Timing and Determinants of the Sexual Orientation Disparity in Internalizing Psychopathology: A Prospective Cohort Study from Ages 3 to 15. J Youth Adolescence 51, 458–470 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01532-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01532-x