Identity Concealment May Discourage Health-Seeking Behaviors: Evidence From Sexual-Minority Men During the 2022 Global Mpox Outbreak
研究发现，隐瞒性取向的性少数男性在猴痘疫情期间更少接种疫苗和接受检测，原因在于社区联系减少和对猴痘资源了解不足。
People who conceal their stigmatized identities often experience worse physical health. One possibility for why is that concealment may render certain health-seeking behaviors more difficult. We tested this possibility during the 2022 global mpox outbreak, a public-health emergency that disproportionately affected sexual-minority men. We recruited adult sexual-minority men from Prolific at two time points near the outbreak’s peak and attenuation ( n = 864 and n = 685, respectively). We found that men who concealed their minority sexual orientations were less likely to (a) receive a vaccine to protect against mpox, (b) receive an mpox test, and (c) report having received an mpox vaccine. The relationship between concealment and vaccine receipt was serially mediated by reduced community connectedness and reduced knowledge of mpox resources. We call for thoughtful consideration of how to reach stigmatized groups with public-health resources, inclusive of those who conceal.