Same-sex marriage bans may be harmful to the mental health of gay people in those states. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Deborah Hasin, professor of clinical epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and colleagues conducted their research by analyzing data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a project of the National Institutes of Health.

NESARC is a nationally representative study that interviewed the same group of non-institutionalized U.S. adults in both 2001-2002 and 2004-2005. Hasin and her team used the NESARC data to determine whether lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals living in the 14 states that instituted same-sex marriage bans in or just after the 2004-2005 elections had increased rates of psychiatric disorders as a result of the discriminatory policies. The researchers controlled for age, gender, race, ethnicity, income, educational attainment, marital status, and region.

Few previous studies had looked at the mental health effect of laws that deprive LGB people of rights. One prior study on the subject came to similar conclusions, but the current study stands out for using a large, nationally representative sample and for looking at the participants over a period of time. Additionally, the NESARC data allowed the researchers to measure mental health against very specific definitions in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV).

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