Anti-Discrimination Laws and Mental Health
Evidence from Sexual Minorities
ResearchPosted on rand.org Jan 16, 2025Published in: The Journal of Human Resources (2024). DOI: 10.3368/jhr.0723-13001R2
Evidence from Sexual Minorities
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.
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