Xu W, Zheng L, Xu Y, Zheng Y. Internalized homophobia, mental health, sexual behaviors, and outness of gay/bisexual men from Southwest China.
Int J Equity Health 2017;
16:36. [PMID:
28222806 PMCID:
PMC5320694 DOI:
10.1186/s12939-017-0530-1]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2016] [Accepted: 02/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
Social attitudes toward male homosexuality in China so far are still not optimistic. Sexual minorities in China have reported high levels of internalized homophobia.
Methods
This Internet-based study examined the associations among internalized homophobia, mental health, sexual behaviors, and outness among 435 gay/bisexual men in Southwest China from 2014 to 2015. Latent profile analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, univariate logistic regression, and separate multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted.
Results
This descriptive study found the Internalized Homophobia Scale to be suitable for use in China. The sample demonstrated a high prevalence of internalized homophobia. Latent profile analysis suggested a 2-class solution as optimal, and a high level of internalized homophobia was significantly associated with greater psychological distress (Wald = 6.49, AOR = 1.66), transactional sex during the previous 6 months (Wald = 5.23, AOR = 2.77), more sexual compulsions (Wald = 14.05, AOR = 2.12), and the concealment of sexual identity from others (Wald = 30.70, AOR = 0.30) and parents (Wald = 6.72, AOR = 0.49).
Conclusions
These findings contribute to our understanding of internalized homophobia in China, and highlight the need to decrease gay-related psychological stress/distress and improve public health services.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12939-017-0530-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Collapse