Relations Between Economic Well-Being, Family Support, Community Attachment, and Life Satisfaction Among LGBQ Adults
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lazarevic2016 - p. 595
Minority stress theory (Meyer 2003) provides a framework for hypothesizing the constructs associated with life satisfaction for LGBQ individuals. According to minority stress theory, LGBQ people face stigma-based stressors (e.g., social rejection, hate speech, victimization, felt need to hide) in addition to the stressors of daily living experienced by all. Minority stress has been associated with health and well-being disparities among sexual minorities (Institute of Medicine 2011).
lazarevic2016 - p. 595
Our study extends this literature by examining the impact of general stress, specifically financial stress and household income level, on sexual minorities.
lazarevic2016 - p. 595
Objective measures cannot, however, tap an individuals’ perception that their income is adequate; even people with higher incomes may experience financial distress.
lazarevic2016 - p. 598
Respondents resided in 54 residential communities across downstate Illinois. The majority of the sample was white (90.3 %) and female (62.3 %). This race and gender distribution is consistent with US Census data regarding the demographics of downstate Illinois same-sex couples: they are largely white and female
lazarevic2016 - p. 598
Respondents’ life satisfaction was assessed with the 5-item Satisfaction with Life scale developed and validated by Diener et al. (1985). Sample items included ‘‘The conditions of my life are excellent’’ and ‘‘I am satisfied with my life.’’ Answer choices ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
lazarevic2016 - p. 598
Adjusted household income was measured categorically such that each respondent indicated the category that best described their annual household income in 2011 US dollars (in increments of 0 to 5000.
lazarevic2016 - p. 598
erceived financial stress was measured with a single item that asked respondents to indicate how often they worried about their financial situation. The answer choices ranged from 1 (never) to 5 (very frequently) (M = 3.14, SD = 1.21).
lazarevic2016 - p. 598
roximal family of origin support was computed by combining scores from three different indicators: frequency of contact with family members, proximity to family members, and family supportiveness.
lazarevic2016 - p. 599
Attachment to residential community was assessed by a Place Identity subscale developed by Williams and Vaske (2003). The subscale is part of the larger measure; however, for the purposes of the current study we utilized the 6-item subscale.
lazarevic2016 - p. 599
Attachment to the local LGBQ community was measured using a modified version of the above described Place Identity subscale (Williams and Vaske 2003). We substituted ‘‘LGBQ community’’ for ‘‘residential community.’’ For example, a sample item included was ‘‘I feel the local LGBQ community is part of me.’’
lazarevic2016 - p. 599
Demographic variables included race (white = 1), age (in years), and sex (female = 1).
lazarevic2016 - p. 599
we controlled for respondent’s health by using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8)
lazarevic2016 - p. 599
we controlled for education and religiosity
lazarevic2016 - p. 602
satisfaction was negatively impacted by adjusted household income among those with higher