Disparities in Psychological Distress between Czech General Population and LGB + Community Sample

Abstract

Sexuality and gender identity measures are rarely included in population-level health studies, even though research shows that sexual minorities are among the groups most vulnerable to psychological distress. In this study, we strive to make the first step towards overcoming this gap in data availability in Czechia. We used data from a recent Czech General population sample (N = 1,841) aged from 15 to 92 with mean = 46,53 and SD = 17,68 years and a Czech sexual minority community sample (N = 1,788) aged from 15 to 71 with mean = 24.2 and SD = 10.1 years that included 642 gay or lesbian men (either cis or trans), 427 gay or lesbian women (either cis or trans), and 450 bisexual individuals (94 men and 356 women, both either cis or trans). We found that all LGB+ subgroups had significantly higher levels of psychological distress compared to general population as measured by Brief Symptom Inventory. This effect was more pronounced in bisexual participants than in gay and lesbian participants. This is the first Czech study focused on comparison of the differences in psychological distress between the general population and sexual minorities. Our study shows that overcoming the lack of inclusion of sexuality and gender identity measures in relevant population health surveys needs to be addressed soon.

Keywords:

• Psychological distress
• BSI-18
• sexual minorities
• bisexuality
• Czechia

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Ladislav Csémy (National Institute of Mental Health) for supporting this study.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Notes

1 The term non-heterosexual(s) is preferred as an umbrella term to supplement the identitarian terminology such as LGB(Q), i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer or other. It may also include T, I, i.e., trans and intersex people if they fit the category from a perspective of their sexuality. The term non-heterosexual is often employed to facilitate a neutral denomination that is both inclusive and medically unbiased. Unlike in English speaking contexts, in Czech the term is often preferred over the term “sexual minority” due to the fact that the employment of a “minority” language may be viewed as reaffirming of a marginalized status.

2 Based on feedback during our piloting we included the acronym LGBT+ despite focusing on sexual minorites. We recognize that also trans participants may have sexual minority orientations.

3 There is a number of resources that may facilitate the inclusion of sensitive sexual and gender identity measures. For example, in Czechia, there is a newly available resource (Pitoňák & Macháčková, 2022).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Czech Science Foundation under grant GA ČR P407 n. 19-14801S “Minority stress in non-heterosexuals in the Czech Republic.”

Notes on contributors

Michal Pitoňák

Michal Pitoňák graduated at Faculty of Science at Charles University in Prague. In his dissertation, he pioneered the subject of geographies of sexualities in Czechia. He investigated mainly the societal heteronormativity and its effect on the social organization and quality of life of Czech sexual minorities. In his consequent research within this field of study, he focused on a spatiotemporal negotiation of non-heterosexual identities; homophobia in schools; application of queer and minority stress theories and investigation of the effects of minority stress on mental health in LGBTQ+ people; social epidemiology of HIV/AIDS and destigmatizing approaches. Since 2015 Dr. Pitoňák works as a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health in Klecany, Czechia. He also teaches LGBTQ psychology course at Faculty of Arts, Charles University and chairs an NGO organization Queer Geography that aims at popularization of knowledge and information regarding sexual and gender diversity.

Jiří Kožený

Jiří Kožený is a senior professor of psychiatry and medical psychology and lecturer at Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology at 3^rd Faculty of Medicine at Charles University and National Institute of Mental Health. Prof. Kožený has decades long experience in the field of psychiatry and medical psychology and specializes in advanced statistical and psychometric analyses. Among his many roles he is an editorial board member of the Journal of Czechoslovak psychology.

Martin Čihák

Martin Čihák is a recent graduate of psychology at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University (2022). As part of his PhD studies in neuroscience at the 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University he works on the development of methods for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, he works as a psychologist at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of the General Hospital, he works with people with acquired brain damage.