Exploring drinking motives and alcohol consumption in a UK LGBTQ+ population

Background

Young people and adults who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning or ACE (LGBTQ+) experience disproportionate (mental) health burdens relative to their heterosexual contemporaries. Discrimination, bullying and victimisation - established risk factors for poor (mental) health outcomes in their own right- compound further this cocktail of adversity. According to minority stress theory, coping processes can suppress the negative effects of hostile and stressful social environments and the study of drinking motives offers us important insights into how alcohol may be used as a coping mechanism. However, the study of drinking motives in LGBTQ+ community has been scarce, and there has been scant research directly comparing the roles of drinking motives in consumption between and non-LGBTQ+ populations. 

Methods

The current study leverages multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) and national data collected from a general sample of UK adults (n = 6,318) as well as an LGBTQ+ booster sample (n = 2,386). Using bifactor exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM), the current study tests whether a general drinking motive is the dominant motivational source of the covariance among drinking motives as well as drinking behaviours in an LGBTQ+ population.  It also examines whether LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ drinking motives can be compared via tests of metric, scalar, and strict invariance in order to test for structural differences in the network of effects connecting drinking motives and drinking between LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ populations.

Results & Conclusion

The findings of this research contribute methodological insights for alcohol research with LGBTQ+ populations and, in the longer term, may contribute to reducing harmful alcohol consumption in these populations.