IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i4p2115-d503540.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Physical and Mental Health Related Quality of Life and Their Influencing Factors on Sexual Minority Women in Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Ssirai Kim

    (College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul 03080, Korea
    Department of Healthcare Administration, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul 03080, Korea)

  • Smi Choi-Kwon

    (College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul 03080, Korea
    The Research Institute of Nursing Science, Seoul National University, Seoul 03080, Korea)

Abstract

Korean sexual minority women (SMW) often experience discrimination, but their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) remains to be investigated. Therefore, we aimed to assess the levels of mental and physical HRQoL of Korean SMW and their influencing factors using data from the Korean Sexual Minority Women’s Health Study (2017) in a cross-sectional study, which included lesbian and bisexual females ( N = 736; age ≥19 years). The HRQoL was measured using SF-36v2 ® ; moreover, separate multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to identify the factors influencing mental and physical HRQoL. The physical and mental HRQoL scores were average (52.38 ± 7.65) and low (38.33 ± 12.64), respectively. Significant factors influencing the physical HRQoL were bisexuality, minority stress, perceived social support, and physical activity. The same factors—apart from physical activity—were associated with mental HRQoL. Therefore, to improve the HRQoL of SMW, it is necessary to lower their minority stress and increase social support. Moreover, special attention is needed regarding bisexual women in Korea.

Suggested Citation

  • Ssirai Kim & Smi Choi-Kwon, 2021. "Physical and Mental Health Related Quality of Life and Their Influencing Factors on Sexual Minority Women in Korea," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:2115-:d:503540
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/2115/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/2115/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karen I. Fredriksen-Goldsen & Chengshi Shiu & Amanda E. B. Bryan & Jayn Goldsen & Hyun-Jun Kim, 2017. "Health Equity and Aging of Bisexual Older Adults: Pathways of Risk and Resilience," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 72(3), pages 468-478.
    2. Hye Weon Kwak & Min Young Kim & Min Young Kim, 2019. "Severity and Influencing Factors of Homophobia in Korean Nursing Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-8, November.
    3. Fredriksen-Goldsen, K.I. & Kim, H.-J. & Barkan, S.E. & Balsam, K.F. & Mincer, S.L., 2010. "Disparities in health-related quality of life: A comparison of lesbians and bisexual women," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(11), pages 2255-2261.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elizabeth J. Ela & Jamie Budnick, 2017. "Non-Heterosexuality, Relationships, and Young Women’s Contraceptive Behavior," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(3), pages 887-909, June.
    2. Kathryn Mazurek & Wei Xue & Marissa Beldon, 2022. "Impact of ACA implementation on health related quality of life among those with depressive disorders in the United States: A secondary data analysis of the 2011-2017 BRFSS," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Kelly Horn & James A. Swartz, 2019. "A Comparative Analysis of Lifetime Medical Conditions and Infectious Diseases by Sexual Identity, Attraction, and Concordance among Women: Results from a National U.S. Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-14, April.
    4. Persson, Tonje J. & Pfaus, James G. & Ryder, Andrew G., 2015. "Explaining mental health disparities for non-monosexual women: Abuse history and risky sex, or the burdens of non-disclosure?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 366-373.
    5. Crouch, Elizabeth & Jones, Jennifer & Strompolis, Melissa & Merrick, Melissa, 2020. "Examining the association between ACEs, childhood poverty and neglect, and physical and mental health: Data from two state samples," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    6. Vanja Lazarevic & Elizabeth G. Holman & Ramona Faith Oswald & Karen Z. Kramer, 2016. "Relations Between Economic Well-Being, Family Support, Community Attachment, and Life Satisfaction Among LGBQ Adults," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 594-606, December.
    7. Ning Hsieh & Hui Liu, 2019. "Bisexuality, Union Status, and Gender Composition of the Couple: Reexamining Marital Advantage in Health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(5), pages 1791-1825, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:2115-:d:503540. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.