“The LGBTQ+ Gap: Recent Estimates for Young Adults in the United States”, Marc Folch2022-04-07 (economics, psychiatry, personality)⁠:

This article provides recent estimates of earnings and mental health for sexual and gender minority young adults in the United States.

Using data from a nationally representative sample of bachelor’s degree recipients:

I find a statistically-significant earnings and mental health gap between self-identified LGBTQ+ and comparable heterosexual cisgender graduates. On average, sexual and gender minorities experience 22% lower earnings 10 years after graduation. About half of this gap can be attributed to LGBTQ+ graduates being less likely to complete a high-paying major and work in a high-paying occupation (eg. STEM and business). In addition, LGBTQ+ graduates are more than twice more likely to report having a mental illness.

I then analyze the role of sexual orientation concealment and find a more pronounced earnings and mental health gap for closeted graduates.

[Keywords: LGBTQ+, labor market discrimination, mental health]

See Also:

• Mental health in people with minority sexual orientations: A meta-analysis of population-based studies

• The Direct Reproductive Cost of Same-Sex Attraction: Evidence from Two Nationally Representative US Samples

• Personality and Sexual Orientation: New Data and Meta-analysis

• Mental Healthcare Usage of Transgender Youth Before and After Affirming Treatment

• Long-term economic costs of psychological problems during childhood

• Personality, IQ, and lifetime earnings