CPRC

Past Research: A social psychologist, Professor Meyer’s research focuses on the relation of social status, minority identity, prejudice and discrimination to mental health outcomes. He has studied, in particular, sexual minorities and the intersection of sexual orientation, race/ethnicity and gender, developing a model of social stress that is often used in studies of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGB) health and that has been quoted as evidence in briefs to several court cases. Meyer's first position as faculty in SMS was as a project director for an NIH-supported asthma study, which he subsequently drew on to develop an innovative community mobilization project, funded by the New York State Department of Health, to enhance asthma prevention and treatment in Harlem. The attention in this early work to the role of the community in ameliorating racial and economic differentials in health has continued throughout his career in work on the health impact of the interaction of social stressors and collective identities, which includes a National Library of Medicine-supported forthcoming book on social stress and minority health and several important 2003 papers on related conceptual and methodological issues. Drawing on this work, Meyer’s NIMH-funded study, Project Stride, aimed to describe social stressors and identity structures among minority group members; to explore coping and social support resources that minority group members use to confront social stressors; and to assess the associations among stress, identity and mental health problems. Meyer’s leadership in the area of stigma, minority health and mental health includes: serving as Group Leader for the RWJ-supported Working Group on Stigma, Prejudice, and Discrimination at Columbia, which has developed a set of papers forthcoming in Social Science and Medicine; guest editing the first special issue of the American Journal of Public Health dedicated to LGBT health; and editing, along with Mary Northridge, the 2007 volume The Health of Sexual Minorities: Public Health Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Populations.

Present Research: Two forthcoming papers compare rates and determinants of DSM-IV mental disorders in gay and bisexual men as compared with heterosexual men. A third paper, in press in the American Journal of Public Health, shows differences in prevalence of mental disorders among diverse (Black, Latino and White) populations of lesbians, gay men, and bisexual men and women. A fourth paper, in press at Social Science and Medicine, examines social stress theory predictions about the distribution of stressors among heterosexuals versus LGBs, men versus women, and African Americans and Latinos versus Whites. Other papers examine the relation of age, sexual orientation, gender, and race to psychological and social well-being; assess the impact of internalized homophobia on intimacy among LGBs, and explore identity integration versus identity conflict among African American LGBs. These findings will be integrated in Meyer’s forthcoming book, tentatively titled “Prejudice and pride: Social stress and resilience in the etiology mental disorders” (that he completed during his recent tenure as a Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation), which examines the proposition that prejudice and discrimination cause mental disorders among disadvantaged populations.

Future Research: Meyer plans to analyze HIV/AIDS risk disparities between White and Black gay/bisexual/MSM, examining the role of residential neighborhood, sexual network characteristics, social stress, related mental health outcomes, and community affiliation and identity on sexual risk behavior. In addition, building on his own expertise and on SMS faculty’s substantial work in the health of sexual minorities, Meyer plans to develop research exploring the mental health implications of the social changes of the Civil Rights and Gay Liberation movements during the past three decades, which have radically changed the social environment in which sexual and racial minorities come of age. By examining generational differences in sexual and racial identity formation and assessing how these differences affect the experience of minority stress and coping resources related to prejudice, Meyer’s work will contribute to knowledge of how, at the broadest level, social change shapes population health.

Professor Meyer's Departmental Biography Page