Older sexual minority veterans are less likely to report depression and/or posttraumatic stress disorder than their younger peers, a cross-sectional study of 3,157 U.S. veterans showed.
“These findings have important public health implications,” wrote Joan K. Monin, PhD, of Yale University, New Haven, Conn., and her associates. “For instance, it may be beneficial to engage older [lesbian, gay, or bisexual] adults as a social support resource … to help improve and/or protect the mental health of younger LGB veterans.”
Dr. Monin and her associates analyzed data from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study (Depress Anxiety. 2013 May;30[5]:432-43), which recruited participants originally by telephone and later by mail in late 2011. Subjects were asked how they characterized their sexual status. Overall, 2,993 people (97.2%) identified as heterosexual, 39 (1.1%) as gay, 12 (0.4%) as lesbian, and 51 (1.4%) as bisexual, the researchers reported (Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 2016 Sep 23. doi: 10.1016/j.jagp.2016.09.006).
The participants’ mental health status was evaluated using several screens, including the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, a lifetime version of the PTSD Checklist, and the Trauma History Screen.
The researchers found a significant interaction between age and LGB status predicting lifetime diagnosis of depression and/or PTSD (P = .027; adjusted odds ratio, 1.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.06). Specifically, younger LGB veterans were more likely to screen positive for lifetime depression and/or PTSD than were their older counterparts.
“I was surprised to find that older LGB veterans were reporting less mental health problems than younger LGB veterans,” Dr. Monin said in an interview. “I was expecting to find that older and younger LGB veterans would have similar mental health disparity.”
She and her associates also found that younger LGB veterans have stronger support networks, a factor that further suggests that older age is tied to resilience in this population.
The study can be found here.