Understanding the Developmental Context of Sleep Health among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Sleep health is linked with multiple aspects of psychosocial functioning. Developmental science has only started to identify sleep health disparities between gender and sexual minority youth and their heterosexual, cisgender peers. Very little research explores the mechanisms that explain (a) disparities in sleep health between gender and sexual minority youth and their heterosexual/cisgender peers or (b) variation in sleep health within gender and sexual minority adolescent and young adult populations. The proposed symposium addresses these two gaps. Starting with sleep disparities between sexual and gender minority and heterosexual cisgender youth, respectively, the first two talks (Martin-Storey and colleagues, Oh and colleagues) use developmental psychopathology theory to identify factors (e.g., peer victimization, social support, distress, childhood sexual abuse) that explain sleep disparities between gender minority and sexual minority youth and their cisgender, heterosexual peers. The second two talks (i.e., Beischel and colleagues, Pollitt and colleagues) examine variation in sleep health among sexual and gender minority youth focusing on minority stressors (e.g., identity concealment, LGBTQ-related victimization, gender non-affirming environments). Findings show that both gender and sexual minority youth are vulnerable to poor sleep outcomes. They also indicate that sleep health vulnerabilities among these group are linked with both developmental psychopathology and minority stress factors. Ultimately, understanding the links between sleep health and gender and sexual minority status provides an important leaver for improving psychosocial outcomes among these vulnerable populations, and suggests the relevance of applying existing developmental theory to explain variation in sleep health.

Sub Unit

• Sex, Gender

Chair

• Alexa Martin-Storey, Universite de Sherbrooke

Individual Presentations

• Understanding Sleep Health among Supra-binary Adolescents: Findings from a Nationally Representative Sample - Presenting Author: Alexa Martin-Storey, Universite de Sherbrooke; Kyla Mayne, Queen's University; Melanie A Dirks, McGill University; Wendy Craig, Queen’s University

• Sexual Minority Status and Sleep Quality: The Role of Sexual Abuse, Perceived Stress, and Depressive Symptoms - Presenting Author: Sueyoung Oh, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Charlotte J Patterson, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

• Gender Differences in Minority Stress, Sleep, and Psychological Distress among Plurisexual Young Adults - Presenting Author: Amanda Pollitt, Northern Arizona University; Alexa Martin-Storey, Universite de Sherbrooke

• Minority Stress and Sleep Quality among Gender Minority Adolescents - Presenting Author: Will Beischel, Université de Sherbrooke; Ryan J Watson, University of Connecticut; Jean-Pascal Lemelin, Université de Sherbrooke