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Sense of Belonging to the General and Gay Communities as Predictors of Depression among Australian Gay Men
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Sense of belonging has been regarded as important for mental health. This study investigated sense of belonging to the general community and sense of belonging to the gay community as predictors of depression among self-identified Australian gay men (N = 137). Participants completed the Psychological subscale of the Sense of Belonging Instrument and the Depression subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Results offered support for the additive model and suggested that sense of belonging to the general community partially mediated the relation between sense of belonging to the gay community and depression, as well as the reverse, that sense of belonging to the gay community partially mediated the relation between sense of belonging to the general community and depression. Findings failed to support a moderation effect model. Results indicate that increasing a sense of belonging to both communities will be associated with a decrease in levels of depression reported by gay men.
Keywords: gay men, sense of belonging, depression, gay community, general community
Research indicates that gay men are at elevated risk for depression compared with heterosexual men. For example, data from the Urban Men's Mental Health Study indicated that men who have sex with men had a higher 7-day prevalence of depression than adult U.S. men in general (Mills et al., 2004), and responses to the National Survey of Midlife Development in the U.S. indicated that gay and bisexual men were three times more likely to meet the criteria for major depression than heterosexual men (Cochran, Sullivan, & Mays, 2003).
The high levels of depression experienced by gay men can be traced, at least in part, to the broader community's negative perceptions of homosexuality. The idea of homosexuality often generates hostility and contempt from the heterosexual community, particularly in the form of homophobia and discrimination (Fontaine &...