Jennifer Pharr (Environmental and Occupational Health), Lung-Chang Chien (Epidemiology and Biostatistics), Max Gakh (Environmental and Occupational Health), and Jason Flatt (Social and Behavioral Health) published a research article titled, "State Protection Alignment Index as a Measure of Structural Stigma's Impact on the Mental Health of Sexual and Gender Minorities," in the journal Annals of LGBTQ Public and Population Health.
Sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations are vulnerable to health disparities, including worse mental health when compared with cisgender, heterosexual populations. In this study, researchers used a novel approach to examine structural-level stigma by determining which categories of statewide law and policy protections for SGM people were associated with mental health outcomes among SGM adults.
