A Review of Minority Stress as a Risk Factor for Cognitive Decline in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Elders

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Gay Lesbian Ment Health
• Personal Author:
  Correro, Anthony N. ; Nielson, Kristy A.
• Description:
  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults comprise a unique and growing subset of the aging population. The historical context in which they came of age was imbued with victimization and discrimination. These experiences are subjectively stressful and collectively known as minority stress. Older LGBT adults continue to face stressors related to their gender and sexual identities in their daily lives. Importantly, chronic minority stress (CMS), like other forms of chronic stress, is harmful to health and well-being. CMS contributes to LGBT health disparities, including cardiovascular disease and depression, conditions that in turn increase risk for premature cognitive decline. Furthermore, long-term exposure to stress hormones is associated with accelerated brain aging. Yet, the cognitive functioning of LGBT elders and the influence of CMS on their cognition is all but unexplored. In this review, we examine the influences of CMS in LGBT elders and connect those influences to existing research on stress and cognitive aging. We propose a testable model describing how CMS in LGBT elders heightens risk for premature cognitive aging and how ameliorating factors may help protect from CMS risk. Research is desperately needed to calibrate this model toward improving LGBT quality of life and mental health practices.
• Keywords:
  Cognition Disparities Healthcare Needs LGBT
• Source:
  J Gay Lesbian Ment Health. 24(1):2-19
• Pubmed ID:
  33014237
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7531820
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  TL1 TR001437/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; U01 CE002944/CE/NCIPC CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U01 NS088034/NS/NINDS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; UL1 TR001436/TR/NCATS NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  24
• Issue:
  1
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:d63d62013c6eea8ecc39e546feed4f6d47b65753c2b8f54136d7ceff27797361
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/119167/cdc_119167_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 266.22 KB ]