Abstract

PECHENY, Mario. Structural inequalities, LGBT youth health and knowledge gaps: what do we know and what do we ask?. Temas psicol. [online]. 2013, vol.21, n.3, pp. 961-972. ISSN 1413-389X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.9788/TP2013.3-EE10ESP.

Numerous studies have examined the links between structural inequalities and health vulnerability. Some of them have done so in relation to LGBT people. However, few studies have examined the specificity of LGBT youth. LGBT youth are particularly vulnerable to some illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS and other STIs, mental health problems, violence. This speculative paper rise questions about how to understand inequalities as producing risk and harms, the concrete processes the go from structures to outcomes. What does international literature say about the impact of high socio-economic inequalities on the lives of homosexual youths, especially on their health? Are there health promotion technologies adequate to those contexts? A quick review of literature identifies an individualistic matrix presupposed to explain the genesis, research and answers when dealing with these problems. The text invites to overcome positivistic epistemologies that provide only partial pictures and support techniques that are reduced to "fragmentary engineering". More comprehensive and situated epistemologies might support more efficient techniques to address risks and harms produced by structural inequalities.

Keywords : Health; inequalities; youths; LGBT; vulnerability.

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