Midlife Satisfaction Disparities by Sexual Orientation: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study

Abstract

Midlife is a pivotal stage shaping healthy aging, and sexual minorities may face more challenges in midlife than heterosexual individuals, due to cumulative social, economic, and health disadvantages. Yet, few studies have examined how life satisfaction in midlife varies by sexual identity. Using data from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study (N = 3,630), we conducted logit regressions and Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) decomposition analysis to examine how health-related, socioeconomic, and sociopsychological factors contribute to disparities in life satisfaction across sexual orientation groups in middle adulthood. The results show that bisexual individuals, but not gay or lesbian individuals, reported significantly lower life satisfaction than their heterosexual peers because of their poorer health status and behaviors, fewer social resources, and lower socioeconomic status. Our findings suggest that public policies should target continuing the reduction in sexuality-based stigma, particularly biphobia, to mitigate the health, social, and economic disparities linked to diminished well-being among middle-aged bisexual individuals.

Keywords:

• Midlife
• bisexual
• gay
• lesbian
• life satisfaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

HRS 2016 datasets are publicly available to use at https://hrsdata.isr.umich.edu/data-products/2016-hrs-core.

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially supported by the National Institute on Aging, Grant R01AG061118.

Notes on contributors

Wenhua Lai

Wenhua Lai is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institution of Gerontology, Wayne State University. Her research focuses on the social determinants of health, stress exposure, cognitive and mental health disparities among older adults, with emphases on racial and sexual minorities.

Ning Hsieh

Ning Hsieh is an associate professor of Sociology at Michigan State University. Their research focuses on how structural inequalities shape the social and health experiences of LGBTQ + and older populations.

Hui Liu

Hui Liu is the director of the Center on Aging and the Life Course and a professor of Sociology at Purdue University. Her research interests include population health, marriage and family, aging and the life course, and LGBTQ + population.