Adult Health Behaviors Over the Life Course by Sexual Orientation (American Journal of Public Health)

Are younger gays and lesbians more at risk of binge drinking, smoking and other unhealthy behaviors? Not necessarily, say the authors of this journal article in the American Journal of Public Health. Researchers from Boston and Brown University looked at health behaviors across sexual orientation and age groups and found that although younger lesbians did have higher odds of tobacco and alcohol use, ER utilization, as well as the decreased odds of a Pap test relative to heterosexual women, younger gay men were far less likely to exhibit risky health behaviors relative to the heterosexual population. Contrarily, not all risk factors went down as populations aged, the authors found. And some sexual minorities exhibited positive health behaviors, including gay men (who had higher rates of colorectal cancer screening compared with heterosexual men) and younger lesbians (who were more likely to engage in moderate physical activity than heterosexual women).

• Ulrike Boehmer