Gay men less likely to seek help on sexual problems due to identity concealment

A recent study suggests that gay men tend to avoid seeking help when experiencing sexual problems because of identity concealment.

A team of investigators conducted this study and measured sexual identity with the standard question “Do you consider yourself to be heterosexual, gay, or bisexual?” Men who provided a complete set of answers to the tools and replied “yes” to the question “Have you ever had a problem with sexual functioning that lasted several months?” were included (n=644: 203 straight, 324 gay, 117 bisexual).

The investigators also asked a simple question on help-seeking: “Did you seek professional assistance then?” They then gathered other data using a self-constructed questionnaire. Minority stress processes (ie, internalized homophobia, expectations of rejection, and identity concealment), were measured using the subscales of the Sexual Minority Stress Scale.

Finally, the statistical significance of sexual identity and minority stress processes as predictors of help-seeking were tested by performing bivariate analyses and multivariate logistic regressions.

Of all included men, 84.5 percent did not seek professional help. Gay identity (odds ratio [OR], 0.58; p=0.045) was associated with a lower likelihood of consulting a specialist as compared with bisexual identity. In addition, age (OR, 1.03; p=0.005), number of doctor’s visits per year (OR, 1.51; p<0.001), and a psychiatric diagnosis (OR, 1.65; p=0.043) positively correlated with help-seeking behaviours.

Notably, identity concealment was associated with a lower possibility of consulting a specialist (OR, 0.94; p=0.017).

“Specialists need to be aware that gay identity and identity concealment may prevent a proportion of men from seeking their help and thus should be publicly explicit about their inclusive and nonpathologizing approach to sexual diversity,” the investigators said.