Social resource patterns and health outcomes among Canadian LGBTQ2+ adults: A latent class analysis

Abstract

Background: Decades of research have shown a strong association between wellbeing, health, and social resources. LGBTQ2+ communities are among those who historically have been excluded from accessing quality social resources. However, little is known about how access to different types of resources influences mental health and wellbeing.

Method: Data were drawn from an online sample of 3890 LGBTQ2+ people aged 18 years and older in Quebec, Canada. We identified key social resource patterns (from family of origin, friends, partner, neighbourhood, and LGBTQ2+ community) and investigated differences in socio-demographic and health outcomes across classes.

Results: A five-class solution best fitted the data, highlighting distinctive patterns in access to five key social resources: moderate friend support access (42.14%), overall high support access (23.51%), high friend support access (18.06%), only close ties support access (10.90%) and overall low support access (5.39%). Marginalized groups (trans and non-binary people, racialized or disabled people, immigrants) were less likely to access diverse, high-quality social resources. Accessing diverse social resources, particularly close ties (e.g., family of origin), was associated with better health outcomes. In the absence of close ties, having at least one other social resource was associated with better health outcomes compared to having limited access to all resources.

Conclusions: We found a major imbalance in social resource access among LGBTQ2+ people. Creating safe spaces for LGBTQ2+ people and ensuring access to high-quality social resources is important in sustaining their health and wellbeing.

Keywords: LGBTQ2+; Mental health; Social resources; Social support; Wellbeing.