By Marcy Adelman–
The first state-funded study of LGBTQIA+ midlife and older adults in California is nearing completion. It is a two-part study on LGBTQIA+ aging that includes both an online survey and data from a series of focus groups with some of the hardest to reach LGBTQIA+ midlife and older adults. The results of the study’s online survey have been released! The second part of the study, concerning the focus groups, is still in progress.
The survey was designed and administered by research partners from CITRIS Health and the Center for Advanced Study of Aging Services at the University of California, Berkeley; Openhouse, a San Francisco LGBTQIA+ senior serving nonprofit; and the University of California, San Francisco; with assistance from a coalition of LGBTQIA+ community-based organizations. Funding support was provided by the California Department on Aging. I am proud to have taken part in this effort. It was an honor and privilege to work with so many dedicated researchers and community leaders.
This California state survey, with over 4000 LGBTQIA Californians 50 years of age and older from every region throughout California, is a game changer. For far too long, the lack of robust data has been a major obstacle to reducing health disparities in our aging LGBTQIA+ communities (see my January 2024 San Francisco Bay Times article). For the first time, state and local governments, philanthropic foundations, and LGBTQIA+ senior-serving nonprofits will have the comprehensive and consistent information they need to fund more and more effective LGBTQIA+ aging services to meet the growing and changing needs of LGBTQIA+ Californians as we age.
The 2024 survey does have some limitations as an online survey. For example, the participants are limited to people who have access to technology. Nonetheless, the California survey is a baseline for future surveys that will usher in a new era in data collection, and potentially, a new era in the health and well-being of LGBTQIA older adults.
“This survey marks an important step in understanding the unique needs of LGBTQIA+ older adults, allowing us to take meaningful steps in shaping services that truly reflect and respond to this community,” said California Department of Aging Director Susan DeMarois. “We’re proud that so many respondents feel California offers a high quality of life, and we are committed to building on these strengths by addressing barriers and creating a more inclusive, supportive future for all older Californians.”
The state used a community-based model to develop the survey. Openhouse’s former executive director, Dr. Kathleen Sullivan, was instrumental in ensuring that there was community input by creating a coalition of LGBTQ+ providers throughout the state to share information and to be thought leaders in every step of survey development. Openhouse brought on Jupiter Peraza as Openhouse’s Manager of the Statewide Coalition. Openhouse hopefully will continue the coalition after the survey has ended. The coalition could play a critical ongoing role advocating for California’s LGBTQIA aging communities.
Survey Respondents
Most survey respondents were white (78%). The second largest race/ethnicity category after white was Latino or Hispanic (9%), followed by those who selected more than one race/ethnicity category (8%), and similar percentages of Black or African American (4%), Asian or Pacific Islander (4%), American Indian or Alaska Native (3%), and Middle Eastern or North African (2%) respondents. Most respondents also identified as cisgender (89%), that is having a gender that aligns with the sex assigned at birth (male or female). A series of focus groups are being conducted by Dr. Angie Perone from the School of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley to ensure that in-depth information is collected from some of the hardest-to-reach LGBTQIA+ midlife and older adults. (Watch this column for the focus group results in the early part of 2025.)
Highlights From the Survey
Most survey respondents (86%) gave a high rating to their quality of life. Among people of color, however, 18% reported fair or poor quality of life, and among transgender/gender expansive respondents, 22% reported fair or poor quality of life.
Almost a quarter (23%) of respondents reported their physical health as fair or poor. Seventeen percent of respondents were people living with HIV.
Economic and social well-being were challenging for LGBTQIA+ older adults. About one in four (26%) reported financial insecurity or concerns about financial insecurity. Almost one in five (19%) transgender and gender expansive respondents reported an income of $20,000 or less, compared to 9% of cisgender respondents. Over a quarter (28%) reported fair or poor satisfaction with social activities and relationships. About one in eight (13%) of survey participants reported rarely or never receiving the emotional and social support they need.
Nearly one quarter of respondents (24%) had symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder. Mental health was one of the top five services where needs were not met. Twenty percent of respondents reported their mental health as fair or poor, one in ten (11%) reported serious thoughts of suicide within the past year. Across the board, the rates were higher among transgender/gender expansive respondents and transgender women, in particular. Survey respondents reported that mental health services were among the top five types of service they avoided because they were not considered LGBTQ+ friendly.
Discrimination, trauma, and stigma were common among all LGBTQIA+ older adults, with experiences of trauma, abuse, and discrimination higher among people of color and transgender and gender expansive people. Almost half (49%) of respondents experienced a traumatic life event in their lifetime.
While it is heartening to know that 86% of LGBTQIA older adults report a high quality of life, there is much in this final report that is sobering and disquieting and that calls us to act by developing policies and programs to improve the health and well-being of California’s LGBTQIA+ older adults.
To read the complete survey report, go to https://bit.ly/3B5v9Of
Dr. Marcy Adelman, a psychologist and LGBTQ+ longevity advocate and policy adviser, oversees the Aging in Community column. She serves on the California Commission on Aging, the California Behavioral Health Task Force, the Board of the Alzheimer’s Association of Northern California, and the San Francisco Dignity Fund Oversight and San Francisco Advisory Committees. She also serves as a Senior Advisor to the LGBTQIA+ Older Adults in California survey and is the Co-Founder of Openhouse, the only San Francisco nonprofit exclusively focused on the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ older adults.
LGBTQIA+ Survey Results – Aging in Community
Published on December 5, 2024
Recent Comments