Comparing asexual with heterosexual, bisexual, and gay/lesbian individuals in common mental health problems: A multivariate meta-analysis

TY - JOUR

T1 - Comparing asexual with heterosexual, bisexual, and gay/lesbian individuals in common mental health problems

T2 - A multivariate meta-analysis

AU - Xu, Yin

AU - Ma, Yidan

AU - Rahman, Qazi

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant number: YJ2021164 ). The funder has no role in study design, collection, analysis or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication. Publisher Copyright: © 2023

PY - 2023/11

Y1 - 2023/11

N2 - We aimed to test whether asexual individuals were at increased risk of higher levels of depressive symptoms, self-harm attempts, and suicide attempts compared with heterosexual, bisexual, or gay/lesbian individuals using multivariate meta-analysis. Seventeen, five, and eight samples were included for depressive symptoms, self-harm attempts, and suicide attempts, respectively, reaching a total sample size of 125,675, 30,116, and 73,366, respectively. Asexual individuals reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than heterosexual individuals (Hedges’ g = -0.44, 95%CI = [-0.61, -0.26]) but did not differ from heterosexual individuals in the risk of self-harm (odds ratio = 1.11, 95%CI = [0.88, 1.39]) and suicide attempts (odds ratio = 0.76, 95%CI = [0.56, 1.04]). Asexual individuals were at lower risk of self-harm and suicide attempts than bisexual and gay/lesbian individuals but did not differ from bisexual and gay/lesbian individuals in the levels of depressive symptoms. The greatest risk of higher levels of depressive symptoms was found in bisexual and asexual, followed by gay/lesbian individuals; the greatest risk of self-harm and suicide attempts was found in bisexual, followed by gay/lesbian individuals, and the lowest risk was found in asexual individuals. The magnitude of the disparities in the risk of poorer mental health among heterosexual, bisexual, gay/lesbian, and asexual individuals depended on the type of mental health outcomes.

AB - We aimed to test whether asexual individuals were at increased risk of higher levels of depressive symptoms, self-harm attempts, and suicide attempts compared with heterosexual, bisexual, or gay/lesbian individuals using multivariate meta-analysis. Seventeen, five, and eight samples were included for depressive symptoms, self-harm attempts, and suicide attempts, respectively, reaching a total sample size of 125,675, 30,116, and 73,366, respectively. Asexual individuals reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than heterosexual individuals (Hedges’ g = -0.44, 95%CI = [-0.61, -0.26]) but did not differ from heterosexual individuals in the risk of self-harm (odds ratio = 1.11, 95%CI = [0.88, 1.39]) and suicide attempts (odds ratio = 0.76, 95%CI = [0.56, 1.04]). Asexual individuals were at lower risk of self-harm and suicide attempts than bisexual and gay/lesbian individuals but did not differ from bisexual and gay/lesbian individuals in the levels of depressive symptoms. The greatest risk of higher levels of depressive symptoms was found in bisexual and asexual, followed by gay/lesbian individuals; the greatest risk of self-harm and suicide attempts was found in bisexual, followed by gay/lesbian individuals, and the lowest risk was found in asexual individuals. The magnitude of the disparities in the risk of poorer mental health among heterosexual, bisexual, gay/lesbian, and asexual individuals depended on the type of mental health outcomes.

KW - Asexual

KW - sexual orientation

KW - multivariate meta-analysis

KW - depressive symptoms

KW - suicide attempts

KW - self-harm

KW - LGBTQ+

KW - homosexuality

KW - Lesbian, gay, bisexual

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85170405537

U2 - 10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102334

DO - 10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102334

M3 - Review article

SN - 0272-7358

VL - 105

JO - Clinical Psychology Review

JF - Clinical Psychology Review

M1 - 102334

ER -