Gay men in China ages 25–29 are eight times more likely to feel criticized and rejected compared with men in that country ages 20 or younger, new University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa research shows.
The reason may be that 25- to 29-year-olds tend to be out of college and in the workforce, where they may face overwhelming social discrimination, according to a study co-authored by Assistant Professor Thomas Lee in the Office of Public Health Studies at the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work.
“There is great pressure from society and family that may be imposed on Chinese gay men,” said Lee. “We found that these men feel criticized and rejected, and that these feelings are linked with loneliness.”
The study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, is part of a recent effort among public health researchers to develop a better understanding of the mental health of the LGBTQ community.
Study methodology
Lee and colleagues administered questionnaires to 367 gay men in China. Some of the surveys were conducted face-to-face, but the majority were administered online. More specifically, the link to the survey was shared with live-chat applications specifically designed for gay men in China.
The men answered questions that allowed the researchers to measure feelings of loneliness and whether the study subjects were experiencing depression, anxiety or other psychological problems.
Several of the questions were aimed at measuring the men’s degree of “interpersonal sensitivity,” defined as a person’s propensity to perceive and elicit criticism and rejection from others. People who are high in interpersonal sensitivity may have difficulty in communicating with others and are susceptible to depression and anxiety.
Study results
The findings showed that gay men who had no siblings or college degree and who earned less money than average were more likely have a high degree of interpersonal sensitivity and loneliness. Also, those who had experienced more sexual partners during their lifetimes showed lower measures of interpersonal sensitivity and loneliness.
There was no link between disclosing one’s sexual identity to others and men’s degree of interpersonal sensitivity, however, men who had disclosed their sexual identity to others felt less lonely.
“Traditional Chinese culture puts a strong emphasis on family inheritance and reproduction,” said Lee. “Our results suggest that we need to be more aware of Chinese gay men’s mental health and that everyone, especially family members, should offer more support to Chinese gay men and work to create a social environment that is more open and inclusive.”
China is facing an increasing demand for health professionals with a background in global health issues, and University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Professor Yuanan Lu is working to help Chinese universities meet this demand for a highly-trained public health workforce.
Recently Lu, of the Office of Public Health Studies at the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, collaborated with global healthexperts on a project to create the first global health bachelor curriculum in China. The new program at Wuhan University can be used as a guide for other institutions that want to develop similar programs.
“We wanted to create a curriculum that will provide students with a strong background in understanding and addressing global health issues, such as food security and maternal-child health,” Lu said. “We wanted the students of this program to graduate and be prepared to become health professionals with international and intercultural competencies.” Lu and his colleagues published a paper outlining the new curriculum in BMJ Open.
Expanding collaborative efforts in China
In a separate project, Lu worked with collaborators at Fudan University to test drinking water in the city of Shaoxing for chemicals called nitrosamines, which are linked with cancer and stillbirths. Shaoxing is a developing, middle-sized city located in the Yangtze River Delta.
Researchers found that the levels of some nitrosamines exceeded the levels allowed in U.S. drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency. The findings show that there is an urgent need to improve nitrosamine regulations in China, the researchers wrote in their study, published in December in Environmental Science and Pollution Research.
Building a thriving public health exchange program with China
Both projects stemmed from a thriving international exchange program between UH Mānoa’s Office of Public Health Studies and several schools of public health and traditional Chinese medicine in China. Lu is the chair of the program.
As China’s economy continues to grow, health issues and health inequality have quickly become challenges for the country, Lu says. Since the exchange program began in 2007, 22 faculty members and 39 students from UH Mānoa’s Public Health have gone to China, and more than 200 faculty members and students have come to UH Mānoa from Wuhan University, Nanchang University and Fudan University.
The program has resulted in more than 100 published research papers over 12 years.
“Global health education programs are common in universities in many highly-developed countries today, and now China is working to establish a better health care education system,” Lu said. “This system will help the country to address health issues and conduct research to provide evidence for policy-making decisions.”
