TY - JOUR
T1 - Sexual orientation disparities in the developmental trajectories of emotional and behavioral difficulties from childhood to early adolescence
AU - Xu, Yin
AU - Rahman, Qazi
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are extremely grateful to all the families who took part in the Millennium Cohort Study. The authors are also grateful to the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education for the use of the data and to the UK Data Archive and Economic and Social Data Service for making them available. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the UK Data Service with a standard End User license. The authors have declared that they have no competing or potential conflicts of interest. This work was supported by The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant number: YJ2021164). Key points
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
PY - 2022/11/22
Y1 - 2022/11/22
N2 - Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and asexual adolescents are at increased risk of poor mental health outcomes but it remains unknown whether this disparity emerges from early childhood and through to adolescence. This study tested sexual orientation disparities in the developmental trajectories of emotional and behavioral difficulties from ages 5 to 14 years, and the influence of early life adversities upon them. Methods: The Millennium Cohort Study, a British birth cohort, was used (4,838 boys and 5,016 girls). Parent-report emotional and behavioral difficulties at ages 5, 7, 11, and 14 were measured using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Sexual orientation was measured via sexual attraction at age 17. Early life adversities in the first 5 years of life, including parental age at birth, birthweight, duration of breastfeeding, parent–child relationship quality, and parental absence, were collected prospectively. Results: Latent growth modeling suggested that, for both sexes, sexual orientation disparities in emotional and behavioral difficulties increased from age 5 to 14 years. Homosexual and bisexual girls displayed significantly greater emotional and behavioral difficulties than heterosexual girls at ages 7, 11, and 14. Homosexual and bisexual boys displayed significantly greater emotional and behavioral difficulties than heterosexual boys at ages 11 and 14. Asexual boys and girls displayed significantly greater emotional and behavioral difficulties than their heterosexual counterparts at all four ages. For both sexes, sexual orientation disparities in emotional and behavioral difficulties only reduced slightly in magnitude after controlling for early life adversities. Conclusions: Sexual minority disparities in emotional and behavioral difficulties increased from childhood to early adolescence, possibly due to the accumulation of susceptibility to minority-related stressors. Sex and early life adversity may contribute to these developmental disparities.
AB - Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and asexual adolescents are at increased risk of poor mental health outcomes but it remains unknown whether this disparity emerges from early childhood and through to adolescence. This study tested sexual orientation disparities in the developmental trajectories of emotional and behavioral difficulties from ages 5 to 14 years, and the influence of early life adversities upon them. Methods: The Millennium Cohort Study, a British birth cohort, was used (4,838 boys and 5,016 girls). Parent-report emotional and behavioral difficulties at ages 5, 7, 11, and 14 were measured using the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Sexual orientation was measured via sexual attraction at age 17. Early life adversities in the first 5 years of life, including parental age at birth, birthweight, duration of breastfeeding, parent–child relationship quality, and parental absence, were collected prospectively. Results: Latent growth modeling suggested that, for both sexes, sexual orientation disparities in emotional and behavioral difficulties increased from age 5 to 14 years. Homosexual and bisexual girls displayed significantly greater emotional and behavioral difficulties than heterosexual girls at ages 7, 11, and 14. Homosexual and bisexual boys displayed significantly greater emotional and behavioral difficulties than heterosexual boys at ages 11 and 14. Asexual boys and girls displayed significantly greater emotional and behavioral difficulties than their heterosexual counterparts at all four ages. For both sexes, sexual orientation disparities in emotional and behavioral difficulties only reduced slightly in magnitude after controlling for early life adversities. Conclusions: Sexual minority disparities in emotional and behavioral difficulties increased from childhood to early adolescence, possibly due to the accumulation of susceptibility to minority-related stressors. Sex and early life adversity may contribute to these developmental disparities.
KW - Sexual orientation
KW - Sexual minority
KW - Emotional and behavioral difficulties
KW - Developmental trajectory
KW - Early life adversity
KW - Millennium cohort study
KW - Children
KW - Adolescent
KW - Lesbian, gay, bisexual
KW - LGBTQ+
KW - Mental health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125652416&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jcpp.13603
DO - 10.1111/jcpp.13603
M3 - Article
SN - 0021-9630
VL - 63
SP - 1505
EP - 1512
JO - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
JF - Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
IS - 12
ER -