Internalized homophobia, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation among lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in South Korea: An age-stratified analysis
Open accessAbstract
Purpose: Little research on internalized homophobia (IHP) and mental health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals has been done in South Korea, a context in which LGB populations widely experience societal stigma. This study examined the association between IHP and depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among Korean LGB adults and investigated whether the association differed by participants' age. Methods: Cross-sectional data from the “Rainbow Connection Project I - Korean Lesbian, Gay, & Bisexual Adults' Health Study” were used for this study (N = 2178). Descriptive analyses were conducted to explore the distribution of IHP, depressive symptoms, and suicidal ideation across all covariates. Multivariate analyses were also used to investigate the overall and age-stratified associations between IHP and depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Results: The prevalence of high IHP was greater among older LGB adults, whereas the prevalence of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation was higher among younger LGB adults. LGB individuals with high IHP levels had significantly greater risk of depressive symptoms than those with low IHP levels. In the age-stratified analyses, the associations between IHP and depressive symptoms were statistically significant only among older LGB adults with high IHP levels. Regarding suicidal ideation, the overall association was statistically significant in the full sample, but not in the age-stratified analyses. Conclusion: These findings suggest that mental health interventions are needed for LGB adults who have high IHP levels, especially among older generations. Furthermore, greater efforts are needed to enact protective legislation for sexual minority individuals in South Korea.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Adapted mental and behavioral health interventions for stigmatized populations are most efficacious for individuals experiencing the highest degrees of internalized and interpersonal stigma.
“For instance, adapted mental and behavioral health interventions for stigmatized populations have been found to be most efficacious for individuals experiencing the highest degrees of internalized and interpersonal stigma (e.g., Lee et al., 2019; Millar et al., 2016; Pachankis, Williams, et al., 2020).”
From Guided internet-based LGBTQ-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy: A randomized controlled trial among sexual minority men in China (2024) · cites this paper as Lee et al., 2019
The Conclusion (page not supplied) recommends developing mental health interventions for Korean LGB adults with high internalized homophobia, especially older adults. But this cross-sectional study examined associations with mental health, not intervention efficacy; it does not show that adapted interventions work best for people with the highest internalized and interpersonal stigma. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
The CES-D Scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population
Radloff, L. S. (1977) · Applied Psychological Measurement · doi:10.1177/014662167700100306 · Cited by 53,267 · see citing works
Meyer, I. H. (2003) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674 · Cited by 14,736 · see citing works
Guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-report measures
Beaton, D. E., Bombardier, C., Guillemin, F., & Ferraz, M. B. (2000) · Spine · doi:10.1097/00007632-200012150-00014 · Cited by 14,542 · see citing works
A Modified Poisson Regression Approach to Prospective Studies with Binary Data
Zou, G. (2004) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/aje/kwh090 · Cited by 9,767 · see citing works
Guillemin, F., Bombardier, C., & Beaton, D. (1993) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/0895-4356(93)90142-n · Cited by 6,060 · see citing works
Minority Stress and Mental Health in Gay Men
Meyer, I. H. (1995) · Journal of Health and Social Behavior · doi:10.2307/2137286 · Cited by 4,264 · see citing works
Fiske, A., Wetherell, J. L., & Gatz, M. (2009) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.032408.153621 · Cited by 2,353 · see citing works
Ryan, C., Huebner, D. M., Díaz, R. M., & Sanchez, J. (2008) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2007-3524 · Cited by 1,730 · see citing works
Internalized homophobia and internalizing mental health problems: A meta-analytic review
Newcomb, M. E., & Mustanski, B. (2010) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.07.003 · Cited by 896 · see citing works
Anxiety disorders in older adults: a comprehensive review
Wolitzky-Taylor, K. B., Castriotta, N., Lenze, E. J., Stanley, M. A., & Craske, M. G. (2010) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.20653 · Cited by 726 · see citing works
Internalized Homophobia, Intimacy, and Sexual Behavior among Gay and Bisexual Men
Meyer, I. H., & Dean, L. (1998) · Stigma and Sexual Orientation: Understanding Prejudice against Lesbians, Gay Men, and Bisexuals · doi:10.4135/9781452243818.n8 · Cited by 538 · cited 1× · see citing works
“…in previous studies, this study aimed to investigate the association between IHP and depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation using the IHP scale, which was developed for sexual minority individuals and has been used extensively in related literature, 3,7 with a large sample of Korean LGB adults.”
Baams, L., Grossman, A. H., & Russell, S. T. (2015) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0038994 · Cited by 451 · see citing works
Fredriksen‐Goldsen, K. I., Kim, H., Shiu, C. A., Goldsen, J., & Emlet, C. A. (2014) · The Gerontologist · doi:10.1093/geront/gnu081 · Cited by 413 · see citing works
A Two-Question Method for Assessing Gender Categories in the Social and Medical Sciences
Tate, C. C., Ledbetter, J. N., & Youssef, C. P. (2012) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499.2012.690110 · Cited by 383 · see citing works
The mental health of sexual minority adults in and out of the closet: A population-based study.
Pachankis, J. E., Cochran, S. D., & Mays, V. M. (2015) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000047 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
DiFulvio, G. T. (2011) · Social Science & Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.02.045 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
Xu, W., Zheng, L., Xu, Y., & Zheng, Y. (2017) · International Journal for Equity in Health · doi:10.1186/s12939-017-0530-1 · Cited by 133 · see citing works
McLaren, S. (2015) · Journal of Homosexuality · doi:10.1080/00918369.2015.1083779 · Cited by 86 · see citing works
Internalized Homonegativity, Sense of Belonging, and Depressive Symptoms Among Australian Gay Men
Davidson, K. B., McLaren, S., Jenkins, M., Corboy, D., Gibbs, P. M., & Molloy, M. (2016) · Journal of Homosexuality · doi:10.1080/00918369.2016.1190215 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Yi, H., Lee, H., Park, J., Choi, B., & Kim, S. (2017) · Epidemiology and Health · doi:10.4178/epih.e2017046 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Self-citationAttitudinal Changes Toward Homosexuality During the Past Two Decades (1994–2014) in Korea
Youn, G. (2017) · Journal of Homosexuality · doi:10.1080/00918369.2017.1310512 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
McLaren, S. (2014) · Journal of Homosexuality · doi:10.1080/00918369.2014.983376 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
A Study on Health Related Quality of Life of Gay Men and Lesbians in Korea
신승배 (2013) · Health and Social Welfare Review · doi:10.15709/hswr.2013.33.1.380 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Disputes and Perspectives on Sex Orientation in the Legislation of Anti-discrimination Law in Korea
Lee, J. H. (2014) · 중앙법학 · doi:10.21759/caulaw.2014.16.3.107 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 5
- [11]11. Lee NY, Baek JY: ''Politics of disgust'': Korean conserva- tive protestant discourses against homosexuality. [In Kore- an] J Womens Study 2017;27:67-108.
- [12]12. Yi H, Kim S-S: Anti-LGBT movement in South Korea and the professionals on their side. [In Korean] Psychol Sex Rev 2016;7:83-85.
- [17]17. Lee YS, Kwon BM, Lee DH: The relationships among ho- mosexual experiences, sexual attitude, sexual homophobic, and depression in adolescents. [In Korean] J Rehabil Psy- chol 2012;19:129-147.
- [21]21. Cho MJ, Kim KH: Diagnostic validity of the CES-D (Ko- rean version) in the assessment of DSM-III-R major depres- sion. J Korean Neuropsychiatry Assoc 1993;32:381-399.
- [31]31. Choo S: Festival attendees' experiences of hate crime vic- timization and its public health implications. In: Assessment of Hate Crimes in the Korean Society and the Resolutions: Based on What Happened at the 2018 Incheon Queer Cul- tural Festival, 1st ed. [In Korean] Edited by Incheon Queer Cultural Festival Emergency Board and Minbyun- Lawyers for a Democratic Society Incheon Chapter. Seoul: The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, 2019, pp 27-38.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Yi, M., Li, X., Chiaramonte, D., Sun, S., Pan, S., Soulliard, Z., Eisenstadt, B. E., Ljótsson, B., Hagaman, A., & Pachankis, J. (2024) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2024.104605 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lee, H., Operario, D., Yi, H., Choo, S., & Kim, S.-S.
- Affiliations
- Korea University (KR)
- Brown University (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kim, Seung-Sup
- Venue
- LGBT Health
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2019-12-01
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 393-399
- ISSN
- 2325-8292 (ISSN-L)
- 2325-8306
- OpenAlex
- W2991542883
- Semantic Scholar
- 4e445d3ab734628d8d04373597fb6e5c75f2e5b7
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 4.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- LGBT Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Research Foundation (NRF-2018S1A5B6075594)
- Korea University (NRF-2018S1A5B6075594)
- Ministry of Education (NRF-2018S1A5B6075594)
- National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018S1A5B6075594)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- internalized homophobia, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults, age differences, sexual minority mental health, South Korea, social stigma
- MeSH terms
- Sexual and Gender Minorities, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Middle Aged, Risk Factors, Socioeconomic Factors, Young Adult, Republic of Korea, Social Stigma, Suicidal Ideation, Homophobia
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
