IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v10y2021i8p301-d611925.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Support and Attachment to Pets Moderate the Association between Sexual and Gender Minority Status and the Likelihood of Delaying or Avoiding COVID-19 Testing

Author

Listed:
  • Angela Matijczak

    (School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1000 Floyd Ave, Richmond, VA 23284, USA)

  • Jennifer W. Applebaum

    (Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, 3219 Turlington Hall, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA)

  • Shanna K. Kattari

    (School of Social Work and College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA)

  • Shelby E. McDonald

    (Children, Families, and Animals Research (CFAR) Group, LLC, Richmond, VA 23223, USA)

Abstract

Sexual and gender minority individuals (SGM) face barriers to accessing COVID-19 testing and treatment services. Living with pets may pose an additional barrier due to concerns about pet welfare. This study investigates whether the relation between SGM status and the likelihood of delaying or avoiding testing and treatment for COVID-19 varies as a function of attachment to pets and social support. Our sample consisted of 1453 adults ( M age = 39.4 years, 12.6% racial/ethnic minority; 21.8% SGM). We conducted simple and additive multiple moderation analyses to investigate the moderating effect of attachment to pets and social support on the relation between SGM status and the likelihood of delaying or avoiding COVID-19 testing or treatment. Attachment to pets moderated the association between SGM status and the likelihood of delaying or avoiding COVID-19 testing in the simple ( β = 0.82, Z = 2.09, p = 0.04) and additive multiple moderation analyses ( β = 0.82, Z = 2.05, p = 0.04). SGM participants were more likely than non-SGM participants to report that they would delay or avoid testing when they reported high attachment to their pet ( β = 0.75, OR = 2.11, Z = 2.51, p = 0.01) and low ( β = 0.75, OR = 2.12, Z = 2.48, p = 0.01) or moderate ( β = 0.73, OR = 2.08, Z = 2.14, p = 0.03) levels of social support.

Suggested Citation

  • Angela Matijczak & Jennifer W. Applebaum & Shanna K. Kattari & Shelby E. McDonald, 2021. "Social Support and Attachment to Pets Moderate the Association between Sexual and Gender Minority Status and the Likelihood of Delaying or Avoiding COVID-19 Testing," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:8:p:301-:d:611925
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/8/301/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/8/301/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Couch, Kenneth A. & Fairlie, Robert W. & Xu, Huanan, 2020. "Early evidence of the impacts of COVID-19 on minority unemployment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Alyssa Schneebaum & M. V. Lee Badgett, 2019. "Poverty in US Lesbian and Gay Couple Households," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 1-30, January.
    3. repec:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2016.303630_8 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Christopher S. Carpenter & Samuel T. Eppink & Gilbert Gonzales, 2020. "Transgender Status, Gender Identity, and Socioeconomic Outcomes in the United States," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(3), pages 573-599, May.
    5. Caceres, B.A. & Brody, A. & Luscombe, R.E. & Primiano, J.E. & Marusca, P. & Sitts, E.M. & Chyun, D., 2017. "A systematic review of cardiovascular disease in sexual minorities," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 107(4), pages 13-21.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Vern Harner & Ascher K. Munion & Jama Shelton, 2021. "Trans Adults Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Quality of Life, Pandemic Impact, and Vaccine Preferences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-17, November.

    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. Olga Alonso-Villar & Coral del Río, 2024. "Poverty among same-sex couple families in the United States: Is there a premium for married couples?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 22(2), pages 495-517, June.
    2. Drydakis, Nick, 2021. "The Economics of Being LGBT. A Review: 2015-2020," IZA Discussion Papers 14845, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Michael E. Martell & Peyton Nash, 2020. "For Love and Money? Earnings and Marriage Among Same-Sex Couples," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 260-294, September.
    4. Finamor, Lucas & Scott, Dana, 2021. "Labor market trends and unemployment insurance generosity during the pandemic," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    5. Astorquiza-Bustos, Bilver Adrian & Quintero-Peña, Jose Wilmar, 2023. "Who can work from home? A remote working index for an emerging economy," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(10).
    6. Valentina Rivera & Francisca Castro, 2021. "Between Social Protests and a Global Pandemic: Working Transitions under the Economic Effects of COVID-19," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    7. Guido Matias Cortes & Eliza Forsythe, 2023. "Distributional impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the CARES Act," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(2), pages 325-349, June.
    8. Crossley, Thomas F. & Fisher, Paul & Low, Hamish, 2021. "The heterogeneous and regressive consequences of COVID-19: Evidence from high quality panel data," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    9. Nora Gottlieb & Conny Püschmann & Fabian Stenzinger & Julia Koelber & Laurette Rasch & Martha Koppelow & Razan Al Munjid, 2020. "Health and Healthcare Utilization among Asylum-Seekers from Berlin’s LGBTIQ Shelter: Preliminary Results of a Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-15, June.
    10. Robert Fairlie & Robert W. Fairlie, 2023. "The Impacts of Covid-19 on Racial Inequality in Business Earnings," CESifo Working Paper Series 10634, CESifo.
    11. Ernst Coupet & Ehab Yamani, 2022. "The impact of the coronavirus on African American unemployment: lessons from history," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 56(1), pages 1-18, December.
    12. Ali Zarifhonarvar, 2023. "A Survey on the Impact of Covid-19 on the Labor Market," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, 03-2023.
    13. Lei, Man-Kit & Berg, Mark T. & Simons, Ronald L. & Simons, Leslie G. & Beach, Steven R.H., 2020. "Childhood adversity and cardiovascular disease risk: An appraisal of recall methods with a focus on stress-buffering processes in childhood and adulthood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    14. Scott, Darius, 2022. "Uncaring landscapes and HIV peer support in the rural Southern United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    15. Cicala, Steve, 2021. "The incidence of extreme economic stress: Evidence from utility disconnections," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    16. Kugler, Maurice & Viollaz, Mariana & Duque, Daniel & Gaddis, Isis & Newhouse, David & Palacios-Lopez, Amparo & Weber, Michael, 2023. "How did the COVID-19 crisis affect different types of workers in the developing world?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    17. Roman, Soraya & Aguiar-Palma, Marina & Machado, Cecilia, 2023. "A tale of two cities: Heterogeneous effects of COVID-19 quarantine on domestic violence in Brazil," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    18. Magdalena Mijas & Karolina Koziara & Andrzej Galbarczyk & Grazyna Jasienska, 2021. "Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Bears and Other Gay Men: A Descriptive Study from Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(3), pages 1-12, January.
    19. Yang, Xiaoliang & Zhou, Peng, 2022. "Wealth inequality and social mobility: A simulation-based modelling approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 307-329.
    20. Sang Yoon (Tim) Lee & Minsung Park & Yongseok Shin, 2021. "Hit Harder, Recover Slower? Unequal Employment Effects of the COVID-19 Shock," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 103(4), pages 367-383, 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:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:8:p:301-:d:611925. 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.