# Mechanisms Underlying Sexual Minority Health Disparities in the United States

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2020 · $402,004

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Families headed by sexual and gender minorities are a growing segment of the population, yet sexual and
gender minority health disparities in areas including self-rated health, chronic conditions, health behaviors, and
depression persist. Minority stress has been implicated as a key cause of health problems, and family
functioning, emotion regulation, couple-level minority stress, and community contexts have been identified as
potential mechanisms underlying these associations. Contemporary theoretical models have yet to be tested
due to a lack of data, and further, this lack of data has made studies of the intersection of racial and ethnic
minority stress with sexual and gender minority stress difficult. This project will produce the first population-
representative, multi-method, fully-powered study of cohabiting and married sexual and gender minorities and
their partners, and a comparison sample of cis-gender individuals in different-gender unions. Aim 1. Evaluate
whether and how family functioning (e.g. relationship quality) mediates the negative effects of stress due to
discrimination on physical and mental health and health behaviors. Aim 2. Using an experience sampling
method embedded in a time-diary, examine 1) the mediating role of emotion regulation, and 2) dyadic stress
processes in the association between stress and subsequent health behaviors and time-use among same-
gender couples. Aim 3. Investigate the association between community-level factors including economic
disadvantage, access to healthcare, and the sexual and gender minority political climate (i.e. state employment
protections) and sexual and gender minorities’ physical and mental health and health behaviors. Aim 4.
Determine race and ethnic health gaps among sexual [and gender] minorities and evaluate potential protective
factors that may minimize these gaps. We will recruit 2690 US adults aged 18 to 60 who are cohabiting or
married to same- and different-gender partners, along with their partners. The sample will include an
oversample of respondents of color. Population-representative Gallup samples afford a unique and efficient
opportunity to study sexual and gender minorities who are in unions via targeted sampling. Using a mobile
phone application platform, we will also collect time-diary and experience sampling method data. The primary
significance of this project is 1) the identification of family functioning and emotion regulation as mediators of
sexual and gender minority stress due to stigma and discrimination and poor physical and psychological health
and health behaviors, and 2) the collection of dyadic data that will elucidate dyadic minority stress processes.
The proposed research is innovative because it is the first contemporary, population-representative study of
sexual and gender minority health that includes family functioning, emotion regulation, and dyadic data and an
oversample of racial and ethnic minorities. These data will...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10176833
- **Project number:** 7R01HD094081-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** Claire M Kamp Dush
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $402,004
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2018-09-14 → 2023-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10176833

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10176833, Mechanisms Underlying Sexual Minority Health Disparities in the United States (7R01HD094081-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10176833. Licensed CC0.

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