A Research Brief from the UNC Partnerships in Aging Program
Note: In this writing, the term sexual minority refers to LGBTQ identity, in alignment with the terminology used in some of the research referenced in the post. We acknowledge that the term ‘minority’ is contested, and embrace the work of moving collaboratively toward more inclusive language.
We began the month of March by considering intimacy in later life, and in our mid-month post highlighted a community partner, SAGE of Central North Carolina (SAGE CNC). SAGE is a national organization focused on the health and well-being of older adults in the LGBTQ community. As we close out the month of March, we combine these two topics to draw attention to the impact on well-being that living as a sexual minority may have. Older adults who identify as LGBTQ have experienced a lifetime of varying societal responses, most of which trend negative, to their relationships and expressions of intimacy.
Well-established, trailblazing research by Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen and colleagues (2018, 2017, 2013) provides insight into these issues. Their work, spanning more than a decade, documents the living situations and health status of older LGBTQ adults and reveals that a majority (64%) have experienced discrimination or victimization 3 or more times over their lifetime due to their sexual orientation. 25% of LGBTQ older adults report threats of being outed in the workplace, and a similar percentage report losing their jobs due to their sexual orientation (Fredriksen-Goldsen, et. al., 2013). As these adults age, additional concerns surround the potential for social isolation: 55% of older LGBTQ adults live alone, as compared to 28% of all older adults (2013).
While it is important to note that social networks tend to decrease in size and variability across the board in later life (Carr & Moorman, 2011), LGBTQ older adults appear particularly vulnerable to social isolation. Sustained social networks in later life tend to focus more on family and geographically proximal friendships. This pattern presents differently, however, for sexual-minority older adults, who have frequently experienced a lifetime of legal and societal barriers to establishing and nurturing spousal and familial relationships (Hsieh & Wong, 2020,p. 2). LGBTQ older adults report the same quantity of family-of-origin relationships as do heterosexual older adults, but lower levels of support within those networks; they also report significantly lower rates of intimate, committed partnership in later life, reflected in the higher percentage who live alone. Many researchers suggest this may be due to the tenuous legal status and societal stigma associated with same-sex unions (Hsieh & Wong, 2020; Perone, Ingersoll-Dayton & Watkins-Dukhie, 2020; Fredriksen-Goldsen, 2018).
There is an abundance of evidence that married status is positively related to health, overall well-being, and family satisfaction, but this status has only recently been legally available to sexual minorities, and only in some countries. Researchers who have considered the subjective well-being (SWB) of people in same-sex relationships before and after marriage equality legislation note that even though all same-sex couples report higher SWB following legalization of same-sex marriage, those that actually marry report significantly greater increases in SWB (Bortien & Vignoli, 2019). The respondents in this research, however, have largely been younger and middle-aged adults who may feel freer to act in accordance with changing laws and societal norms; we do not yet know if older LGBTQ adults will report similar increases in SWB and ultimately demonstrate similar patterns of intimate-partner connectedness as their heterosexual peers once marriage equality rights have matured.
We live and love in varied and complex ways. One bright spot for LGBTQ older adults is in friendship support, which is reported by this group to be stronger than for heterosexual peers in older adulthood (Hsieh & Wong, 2020). In the future we may be able to more accurately compare subjective well-being related to intimacy and social connectedness across the entire population of older adults, and hopefully report that LGBTQ older adults enjoy at least a similar pattern of benefits as heterosexual peers. Until then, friends, families-of-choice, and organizations like SAGE CNC serve to at least partially mitigate the effects of social isolation.
©2021 Womack, JL. Professor, Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy UNC-Chapel Hill
REFERENCES /RESOURCES
Boertien, D., & Vignoli, D. (2019). Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Matters for the Subjective Well-being of Individuals in Same-Sex Unions. Demography, 56(6), 2109-2121. http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/10.1007/s13524-019-00822-1
Carr, D. & Moorman, S.M. (2011). Social Relations and Aging in Handbook of Sociology of Aging, Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research, Settersten, R. A., Angel, J. L. (Eds. ). New York: Springer, pp. 145-160.
Fredriksen-Goldsen, K. I. (2018). Shifting social context in the lives of LGBT older adults. Public Policy & Aging Report, 28(1), 24–28.
Fredriksen-Goldsen, K. I., Kim, H.-J., Bryan, A. E. B., Shiu, C., & Emlet, C. A. (2017). The cascading effects of marginalization and pathways of resilience in attaining good health among LGBT older adults. The Gerontologist, 57(Suppl. 1), S72–S83.
Fredriksen-Goldsen, K.I., Kim, H-J., Muraco, A., Erosheva, E.A., Goldsen, J. & Hoy-Ellis, C.P. (2013). The physical and mental health of lesbian, gay male and bisexual (LGB) older adults: The role of key health indicators and risk and protective factors. The Gerontologist 53(4), 664-675.
Hsieh, N., & Wong, J. S. (2020). Social Networks in Later Life: Similarities and Differences between Sexual-Minority and Heterosexual Older Adults. Socius. https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023120977731
Kim, H-J. & Fredriksen-Goldsen, K.I.(2016). Living Arrangement and Loneliness among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Older Adults. The Gerontologist 56(3):548–58.
Perone, A. K., Ingersoll-Dayton, B., & Watkins-Dukhie, K. (2020). Social Isolation Loneliness Among LGBT Older Adults: Lessons Learned from a Pilot Friendly Caller Program. Clinical Social Work Journal, 48(1), 126-139. http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/10.1007/s10615-019-00738-8
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