Use of Mental Health Care and Unmet Needs for Health Care Among Lesbian and Bisexual Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-American Women

Abstract

Objective: This study examined associations between sexual orientation of Asian-American women and receipt of mental health care and unmet need for health care.

Methods: Computer-assisted self-interviews were conducted with 701 unmarried Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-American women ages 18 to 35. Multivariate regression models examined whether lesbian and bisexual participants differed from exclusively heterosexual participants in use of mental health care and unmet need for health care.

Results: After the analyses controlled for mental health status and other covariates, lesbian and bisexual women were more likely than exclusively heterosexual women to have received any past-year mental health services and reported a greater unmet need for health care. Sexual-minority women were no more likely to have received minimally adequate care.

Conclusions: Given the high rates of mental health problems among Asian-American sexual-minority women, efforts are needed to identify and overcome barriers to receipt of adequate mental health care and minimize unmet health care needs.