Education and Health: The Joint Role of Gender and Sexual Identity

• In Event: 2157 - LGBTQ Health and Medical Issues

Abstract

In this study, we examine data from a probability-based sample of adults living in 40 US states for selected years between 2011-2015 to test whether the relationship between education and physical health is equivalent across sexual orientation groups, and additionally, if those associations differ for men and women. We rely upon intersectionality theory, and expand current debates of education as a resource substitution or cumulative disadvantage to include sexual orientation. Presenting results from gender and sexual orientation-stratified logistic regressions, we find clear evidence that education acts as a cumulative disadvantage for bisexual women, and to a lesser extent bisexual men, compared to their heterosexual counterparts. For example, bisexual women with a college degree experience a smaller increase in health compared to heterosexual women with a college degree. In contrast, gay and lesbian adults have similar associations of education with health as same-gendered heterosexual adults. Comparing the associations of education on health across gender but within sexual orientation, we find that while highly educated heterosexual women experience resource multiplication compared to heterosexual men, lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults’ have a similar association between education and health regardless of gender. Altogether, these findings add more nuance to our understanding of the role education plays in promoting health, and the complicated relationship between gender, sexual orientation, and health.

Authors

• Alexa Solazzo, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

• Zhe Zhang, Rice University

• Bridget K. Gorman, Rice University