Do psychosocial factors mediate sexual minorities’ risky sexual behaviour? A twin study

TY - JOUR

T1 - Do psychosocial factors mediate sexual minorities’ risky sexual behaviour? A twin study

AU - Oginni, Kunle

AU - Jern, Patrick

AU - Rahman, Qazi

AU - Rijsdijk, Fruhling

N1 - Funding Information: The Twins Early Development Study (TEDS) is supported by a program grant to Robert Plomin from the United Kingdom Medical Research Council (MR/M021475/1 and previously G0901245), with additional support from the US National Institutes of Health (AG046938). We gratefully acknowledge the ongoing contribution of the participants in the TEDS and their families. Olakunle Ayokunmi Oginni is supported by the Commonwealth Scholarship, a global scholarship program funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, United Kingdom. Patrick Jern is funded by Grants 274521, 284385, and 319403 from the Academy of Finland. We have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 American Psychological Association

PY - 2022/1/1

Y1 - 2022/1/1

N2 - Objectives: Risky sexual behavior among sexual minorities (lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals) are partly attributed to mental health and other social disparities; but this may be confounded by correlated genetic and environmental influences. As preregistered, the present study investigated indirect associations between sexual minority status and increased lifetime sexual partners through increased psychosocial adversity (depressive and anxiety symptoms, intimate partner violence, and early life adversities) and substance use (alcohol, cannabis, and other illicit drugs), confounding by correlated genetic and environmental influences, and sex differences in these relationships. Method: The sample comprised sexual minority and heterosexual twins who participated in the first and second phases of the latest wave of data collection in the U.K. population-based Twins Early Development study cohort (June 2017 through February 2019; n = 9,697 and 8,718, respectively, M age = 22.3 6.92 years). Structural equation modeling was used to specify psychosocial adversity and substance use as mediators while genetic and environmental confounding was further determined by biometrical genetic analyses in which similarities in identical and nonidentical twins were compared. Results: Increased psychosocial adversity and substance use fully mediated increased lifetime sexual partners in sexual minority women while this effect was partial (31.1%) in men. The best-fitting genetic models indicated that these relationships were not confounded by correlated genetic and environmental influences. Conclusions: The relationships between sexual minority status, psychosocial adversity, substance use, and sexual health disparities appeared independent of genetic and environmental influences. Individual and systemic interventions to reduce psychosocial disadvantage and substance use can also decrease sexual health disparities among sexual minorities.

AB - Objectives: Risky sexual behavior among sexual minorities (lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals) are partly attributed to mental health and other social disparities; but this may be confounded by correlated genetic and environmental influences. As preregistered, the present study investigated indirect associations between sexual minority status and increased lifetime sexual partners through increased psychosocial adversity (depressive and anxiety symptoms, intimate partner violence, and early life adversities) and substance use (alcohol, cannabis, and other illicit drugs), confounding by correlated genetic and environmental influences, and sex differences in these relationships. Method: The sample comprised sexual minority and heterosexual twins who participated in the first and second phases of the latest wave of data collection in the U.K. population-based Twins Early Development study cohort (June 2017 through February 2019; n = 9,697 and 8,718, respectively, M age = 22.3 6.92 years). Structural equation modeling was used to specify psychosocial adversity and substance use as mediators while genetic and environmental confounding was further determined by biometrical genetic analyses in which similarities in identical and nonidentical twins were compared. Results: Increased psychosocial adversity and substance use fully mediated increased lifetime sexual partners in sexual minority women while this effect was partial (31.1%) in men. The best-fitting genetic models indicated that these relationships were not confounded by correlated genetic and environmental influences. Conclusions: The relationships between sexual minority status, psychosocial adversity, substance use, and sexual health disparities appeared independent of genetic and environmental influences. Individual and systemic interventions to reduce psychosocial disadvantage and substance use can also decrease sexual health disparities among sexual minorities.

KW - Sexual orientation

KW - Mental health

KW - Psychosocial adversity

KW - Substance use

KW - Sexual minority

KW - Risky sexual behavior

KW - Genetics

KW - Twins

KW - Behavior genetics

KW - LGBTQ+

KW - Lesbian, gay, bisexual

KW - Health psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120881076&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - doi: 10.1037/hea0001129

DO - doi: 10.1037/hea0001129

M3 - Article

SN - 0278-6133

VL - 41

SP - 76

EP - 84

JO - Health Psychology

JF - Health Psychology

IS - 1

ER -