A longitudinal analysis of chronic stress, substance use, and mental health among a sample of young sexual minority men in New York City
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Briganti, Michael.
A longitudinal analysis of chronic stress, substance use, and mental health among a sample of young sexual minority men in New York City. Retrieved from
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TitleA longitudinal analysis of chronic stress, substance use, and mental health among a sample of young sexual minority men in New York City
Date Created2023
Other Date2023-01 (degree)
Extent155 pages : illustrations
DescriptionSexual minority men (SMM) are at increased risk for psychosocial stressor exposure, substance use, and poor mental health relative to heterosexual men. While the burden of mental health and substance use is growing in the United States, among SMM these trends are increasing at a greater rate, driving already large health disparities. To better understand how psychosocial stressors drive disparities in substance use and mental health, this dissertation utilized an integrated framework built upon Meyer’s Minority Stress Model and Hatzenbuehler’s Psychological Mediation Framework. Data from seven timepoints over 36 months of a prospective cohort study of young SMM (n=528) were used to examine the extent to which stressors (stigma, discrimination, internalized homophobia, perceived stress) drive substance use (alcohol to intoxication, club drug, poly club drug) and poor mental health (anxiety, depression, PTSD), and how poor mental health impacts substance use. Using zero-inflated generalized linear mixed models, the differential impacts of stressors on the frequency of specific substance use and the severity of mental health symptomatology was observed, and how the severity of specific mental health outcomes drove the use of specific substances. By observing how these relationships differed by race, ethnicity, sexual identity, and SES, these analyses highlighted the social nature of substance use, and the challenges SMM face during young adulthood. Based on the findings from the primary analyses, a supplementary mediation analysis was conducted between perceived stress and substance use outcomes, to determine how depression and PTSD mediate these relationships. Overall, these findings support an increased need for public health interventions that target psychosocial stressors in order to address the growing mental health and substance use disparities among young SMM.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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