Lesbians and their sisters as a control group: demographic and mental health factors.

Lesbians and their heterosexual sisters were compared on demographic variables and mental health subscales, so that the feasibility of using heterosexual sisters as a control group for lesbians could be investigated Lesbians were significantly more educated, more likely to live in urban areas, and more geographically mobile than their heterosexual sisters. Heterosexual sisters were more likely than lesbians to be married and homemakers, to have children, and to identify with a formal religion. There was no difference in mental health, but lesbians had higher self-esteem. When all respondents were included, bisexual women had significantly poorer mental health than did lesbians and heterosexual women. This is the first study to use sisters as a control group in lesbian research.

A model of predictors and outcomes of outness among lesbian and bisexual women.

In a structural equation model of 2,401 lesbian and bisexual women, three variables of lesbian sexual identity were found to predict outness, which predicted lower psychological distress, which, in turn, predicted lower suicidality. The model held true for the subsamples of European-American and African-American women, and to a lesser extent for those of Latina, Asian-American, Native-American, and Jewish women.

When lesbians aren't gay: factors affecting depression among lesbians.

Research on women and depression has neglected to explore how the factors that put women at risk for depression apply to lesbians. The present study examined four of the risk factors consistently cited in the women and depression literature (relationship status, relationship satisfaction, social support from friends, and social support from family), and two unique factors (outness and relationship status satisfaction), to determine their ability to predict depression among lesbians. Data were collected from 167 lesbians between the ages of 20 and 60. Perceived social support from friends, relationship status satisfaction, and perceived social support from family, were found to be significant predictors, accounting for 17.8% of the variance in depression, as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Study Depression Scale (CES-D). A second multiple regression equation focused on the 110 lesbians who were in committed relationships, using the variables relationship satisfaction, perceived social support from friends, perceived social support from family, and outness, to determine if relationship satisfaction added to the amount of variance which could be predicted in depression. Social support from friends was the only significant predictor in this equation, accounting for 5.8% of the variance in depression scores.

Beauty mandates and the appearance obsession.

ABSTRACT This article examines the effects of appearance norms within lesbian communities, drawing both on the research literature and on direct interviews with lesbian and bisexual women. In particular, the authors assess the impact of heterosexual beauty mandates on women's communities and ask whether lesbian and bisexual women are affected by the dominant culture's beauty mandates to a similar or lesser degree than heterosexual women. In addition, the authors examine appearance mandates developed by women within lesbian subculture. The positive and negative effects of these various "styles" on members of different lesbian subcultures are discussed.

National lesbian health care survey.

Abstract This article presents demographic, lifestyle, and mental health information about 1,925 lesbians from all 50 states who participated as respondents in the National Lesbian Health Care Survey (1984-1985), the most comprehensive study on U.S. lesbians to date. Over half the sample had had thoughts about suicide at some time, and 18% had attempted suicide. Thirty-seven percent had been physically abused as a child or adult, 32% had been raped or sexually attacked, and 19% had been involved in incestuous relationships while growing up. Almost one third used tobacco on a daily basis, and about 30% drank alcohol more than once a week, 6% daily. About three fourths had received counseling at some time, and half had done so for reasons of sadness and depression. Lesbians in the survey also were socially connected and had a variety of social supports, mostly within the lesbian community. However, few had come out to all family members and coworkers. Level of openness about lesbianism was associated with less fear of exposure and with more choices about mental health counseling.

Do obese women have poorer social relationships than nonobese women? Reports by self, friends, and coworkers.

Both theory and research suggest that obese women may have relatively poor social relationships even if their self-reports about their relationships do not differ from the reports of nonobese women. Seventy-seven obese and 78 nonobese women completed self-report measures of social anxiety, social self-esteem, social competence, social network size, and perceived social support from friends and family. Friends and coworkers also rated these women on the same measures. The self-reports of obese and nonobese women did not differ significantly on any of these social measures, and ratings from friends and coworkers of obese women were not different from ratings of nonobese women by friends and coworkers. These results suggest that obese women may be able to overcome prejudice against obese people in their relationships with others.

"I only read about myself on bathroom walls": the need for research on the mental health of lesbians and gay men.

The very recent history of pathologizing homosexuality still has a strong impact on the public in general and mental health professionals in particular. In contrast to the early research on sexual reorientation of lesbians and gay men, there is relatively little empirical research on the mental health issues of lesbians and gay men. Whether researchers choose to define sexual orientation by sexual behavior, self-definition, or membership in lesbian and gay community groups will have an impact on the results. Research on mental health issues that include lesbians, gay men, and heterosexual women and men would allow an examination of the relative salience of gender versus sexual orientation. Finally, the experiences of lesbians and gay men in society may place them at increased risk for some mental health problems and may protect them from other mental health problems.

National Lesbian Health Care Survey: implications for mental health care.

This article presents demographic, lifestyle, and mental health information about 1,925 lesbians from all 50 states who participated as respondents in the National Lesbian Health Care Survey (1984-1985), the most comprehensive study on U.S. lesbians to date. Over half the sample had had thoughts about suicide at some time, and 18% had attempted suicide. Thirty-seven percent had been physically abused as a child or adult, 32% had been raped or sexually attacked, and 19% had been involved in incestuous relationships while growing up. Almost one third used tobacco on a daily basis, and about 30% drank alcohol more than once a week, 6% daily. About three fourths had received counseling at some time, and half had done so for reasons of sadness and depression. Lesbians in the survey also were socially connected and had a variety of social supports, mostly within the lesbian community. However, few had come out to all family members and coworkers. Level of openness about lesbianism was associated with less fear of exposure and with more choices about mental health counseling.

Outcomes of weight-loss programs.

We examined the results of a stratified random sample of 50 weight-loss studies conducted in the 1980s for weight change, change in overweight percentage, and improvement in physical health during treatment and follow-up. The typical participant was a White, middle-class woman 48% over her average weight before treatment, who lost 12.8 lb during a 13-week treatment program and then regained 4.3 lb over the next 6.5 months. Treatment efficacy was not improved when only the most successful treatment conditions were examined or when the studies conducted at the end of the decade were compared with earlier studies. Only one study examined change in physical health during weight loss, and only one study showed that participants moved from clinical to nonclinical levels of obesity. In light of these results, we argue that treating obesity through dieting techniques may be a misdirected goal.

Social interactions of obese and nonobese women.

The stigma associated with obesity is likely to limit the opportunities obese women have to develop social skills. This hypothesis was tested by having obese (n = 15) and nonobese (n = 22) women converse on the telephone with college students who were unaware of the women's weights. Ratings made by judges who listened to the women's contributions to the conversations but who were unaware of their weights showed that obesity was negatively related to judgments about the women's likability, social skills, and physical attractiveness. The telephone partners of obese women rated the women and themselves more negatively than did the partners of nonobese women. Obese and nonobese women generally did not differ in their evaluations of their own and their telephone partners' behavior, and they also did not differ on a measure of social self-esteem. These findings suggest that there are real differences in the social behavior of obese and nonobese women and that these differences affect the impressions formed by those with whom they interact.

Psychological factors in the antarctic.

For the people who live and work in the Antarctic, isolation and extreme physical conditions cause considerable stress. This article reviews psychological research on Antarctic residents, focusing on factors related to the isolation (effective personnel selection, positive adjustment, conflict, and reintegration into the home environment) and factors related to the physical environment (the extreme cold, high altitude, increased radiation, sensory deprivation, and seasonal changes in activity level). Finally, Antarctic research has been applied to the study of future space travel and space station habitation.

Women and weight: fad and fiction.

In this article, I argue that women's concern with body weight is a "fad," when taken in an historical context, and is limited to Western societies. I have presented evidence that the following aspects of weight are myths rather than reality: (a) There are objective definitions of obesity; (b) obesity is prevalent among women; (c) obese people take in more calories than the nonobese; (d) dieting is an effective way to reduce weight; and (e) obesity is related to poor physical health.

Selecting psychotherapists to participate in psychotherapy outcome studies. Relationship between psychotherapist characteristics and assessment of clinical skills.

The procedures developed for assessing specific psychotherapist skills are described, and the relationships among judges' ratings of these skills and selected therapist characteristics are examined and discussed. Data for 27 therapist applicants indicate a positive relationship between overall ratings of therapist skill and the age and level of experience of the psychotherapist applicants, with older, more experienced therapists being judged as more empathic and having greater potential to function effectively in short term interpersonal psychotherapy. In contrast, psychotherapists' gender and professional degree failed to predict judges' ratings.

Use of a structured diagnostic interview to identify bipolar disorder in adolescent inpatients: frequency and manifestations of the disorder.

The authors interviewed 17 adolescent inpatients and their mothers with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children and Adolescents, Epidemiological Version (K-SADS-E), a semistructured interview that generates RDC and DSM-III diagnoses for major affective disorders and nonaffective psychoses and DSM-III diagnoses for dysthymic, cyclothymic, and other selected disorders. Five of the patients (29%) satisfied DSM-III criteria for bipolar disorder or atypical bipolar (bipolar II) disorder, although these diagnoses had not been identified in the hospital charts. These data support previous findings that bipolar disorder occurs moderately frequently in adolescent inpatients, although it is often unrecognized. Moreover, the disorder can be readily identified with structured diagnostic methods.

Issues in clinical trials with the depressed elderly.

Despite the fact that there is a high prevalence of depression among the elderly, little research on the efficacy of psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy with the elderly has been reported in the literature. This paper describes a sample of 18 elderly patients who received both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for the treatment of depression. Psychotherapy involved weekly 30-50 minutes sessions of interpersonal psychotherapy with a treating psychiatrist. The drug treatment consisted of random assignment, double-blind, to either alprazolam, imipramine, or pill-placebo for six weeks. The focus of therapy was on the attendance, compliance, and symptomatic relief in elderly depressed patients, as well as on the major life problems identified by these patients in psychotherapy. Results indicated that elderly patients respond to community publicity regarding a psychotherapy treatment program. However, the majority are inappropriate referrals for diagnostic reasons. If accepted, elderly patients showed good compliance with drugs, and attendance was comparable to that in younger populations. The elderly patients responded well to treatment, with immediate and marked improvement on the Hamilton and Raskin Depression Scales, which was maintained after treatment. Grief and role transitions specific to life changes were frequent antecedents to depression in this elderly population and thus were the major foci in psychotherapy.