Religious Transitions, Sexual Minority Status, and Depressive Symptoms from Adolescence to Early Adulthood

Abstract

Given that sexual minorities have been historically stigmatized within institutions of religion, they may be less likely to exhibit any health benefits from religious participation. In this article, we use data from Waves I and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to test whether the effects of religious affiliation (becoming affiliated with a religious group) and disaffiliation (no longer affiliating with a religious group) on depressive symptoms are moderated by sexual minority status from adolescence to early adulthood. In regression models adjusted for selection effects, we observed that, compared to respondents who were consistently unaffiliated, becoming affiliated was associated with more depressive symptoms from baseline to follow-up among lesbian, gay, and bisexual respondents, but not among heterosexual respondents. We conclude with the implications of our results as they relate to understanding the health impacts of marginalized groups in social institutions and the importance of selection effects.