LGBTQ Disparities in Health and Social Determinants of Health in a National Monitoring Survey of Americans During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Rachel Kinder
ICF
Matt Jans
ICF
Dierdre Middleton
ICF
John Boyle
ICF
Thomas Brassell
ICF
James Dayton
ICF
Past research has shown health and mental health disparities between sexual minorities and others in the general population. More recently, increased incidence of mental health issues in the general population has been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper explores health and mental health disparities during the pandemic between adults who identify as LGBTQ and other adults. The study was conducted as part of pandemic monitoring project with independent Census-balanced national samples drawn on a monthly basis for a large mobile panel of United States adults. Importantly, 8.7% of the sample personally identified as LGBTQ, yielding a subsample of more than 891 sexual minority adults. In these national surveys, LGBTQ people reported greater adverse health, social, and financial outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to other adults. For the analysis of outcomes in LGBTQ respondents, waves were combined to increase the sample size and analytic power. In summary, the LGBTQ population suffered from health disparities prior to the pandemic, and the data presented here indicate this population continues to be vulnerable on health and financial metrics during COVID.