Anti-Discrimination Laws and Mental Health

Evidence from Sexual Minorities

Samuel J. Mann

ResearchPosted on rand.org Jan 16, 2025Published in: The Journal of Human Resources (2024). DOI: 10.3368/jhr.0723-13001R2

Exploiting the roll out of state level sexual orientation based Anti-Discrimination Laws over the past 25 years within a difference-in-differences model that is robust to staggered timing, I document the causal effect of Anti-Discrimination Laws on mental health for the first time. Results demonstrate that Anti-Discrimination Laws significantly improve the mental health of sexual minorities. I leverage data from several sources to explore three plausible mechanisms: changes in labor market outcomes, changes in health insurance coverage, and changes in social and workplace climate.

Topics

Document Details

  • Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
  • Availability: Non-RAND
  • Year: 2024
  • Pages: 1
  • Document Number: EP-70801

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