Anxiety and social experience stressors of LGBT in Thailand

Abstract

The enhancement of the quality of life, according to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations (UN-SDG), places importance in equality for all groups of people, in all aspects. In this regard, although the Thailand sphere has been praised for its efforts to demonstrate its progressiveness regarding equality for groups who are more vulnerable to stressors, in practice, it is still quite lacking which could cause issues with mental health, such as anxiety and other stressors. This descriptive cross sectional quantitative research study explores the anxiety and social experience stressors of once such group - those of different sexual orientations and gender identities, otherwise known as the LGBT community. Data was collected from an online sample group of 100 participants (N=100) of the LGBT community through a generalized demographic survey, a survey on LGBT specific social experiences determined through literature review, and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) in order to ascertain which factors would be the most significant stressors for queer people in Thailand. The data was then compiled and processed through the SPSS V.22 program, in which Pearson’s chi-squared test was used to determine significant factors for state and trait anxiety, followed by backwards stepwise regression in order to determine the likelihood of correlation between the factors and state or trait anxiety. Contrary to what was assumed, demographic variables had almost no impact on queer anxiety at all. Acceptance of the participant’s siblings and other family members, excluding their parents, had a negative correlation with state anxiety (p = .003), and state anxiety was 0.175 times likely to happen if the participant had a positive relationship with their siblings or other family members. The repercussions of publicly coming out had a positive correlation with trait anxiety (p = .001), and trait anxiety was 6.047 times more likely to occur in a participant with these concerns. Negative experiences with medical providers, despite not disclosing their status as a queer person, also had a positive correlation with trait anxiety (p = .004), and trait anxiety was 5.558 times more likely to occur in a participant with these experiences. However, it is important to note that the majority of participants of the survey did not have negative experiences with medical providers.