Social participation and memory of aging sexual minority people: the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

In order to expand Meyer's Minority Stress Theory, the current study investigated the relationship between sexual minority status and memory while considering the influence of social participation. By using multiple regression, a secondary data source from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging was utilized to examine whether social participation would serve as a significant mediator between sexual minority status and memory performance among aging adults. The study revealed that social participation acts as a significant mediator for aging sexual minority men, but not for aging sexual minority women for their cognitive performance. When social participation was added to the regression model, aging sexual minority men's memory performance was at a lower level compared to their non-sexual minority counterparts. The current study points to the importance of social participation as an area of further exploration when investigating the relationship between sexual minority status and cognitive health in older adults.