SELECT Publications
with Nik Lampe, Nathaniel Tran, Harry Barbee, and Skyler Bastow
sociologist. EDUCATOR.thought leader.
with Ellesse Roselee Akré, Jeff Henne, Adam Conway,
Isabel Gothelf, and Nitya Kari
The overarching aim of the VUSNAPS study is to test a new conceptual model of how social ties and policy contexts intervene in the minority stress to health pathway for LGBTQ+ older adults. This model integrates the minority stress, structural disadvantage, and social network/social support explanations for why we observe disparities in health and aging outcomes among older LGBTQ+ adults when compared to older cisgender heterosexual adults. I developed this model for two reasons: 1) to improve the rigor of measurement and assessment of social ties and support in applications of the minority stress model, which have typically been measured using general whole-network perceptions of support availability rather than detailed measures of how individual ties actually perform, and 2) to generate new flexibilities in the minority stress to health pathway that would help account for why many older LGBTQ+ adults are thriving despite minority stress exposures. This model brings the well-known minority stress framework more in line with a sociological view of the ways that individuals are shaped by and respond to their personal experiences, interpersonal relationships, and societal structures.
READ: VUSNAPS Wave 1 Community Research Summary.
LGBTQ+ Health and aging
with Nathaniel Tran, Harry Barbee, and Judy K. Min
TARA MCKAY
I am the Principal Investigator of the Vanderbilt University Social Networks, Aging, and Policy Study (VUSNAPS).
VUSNAPS is a longitudinal study of the lives and networks of older LGBTQ adults in the South. The study is funded by the National Institute on Aging. Learn more at www.vusnaps.com.