Families headed by LGBTQ+ parents are increasing in the US, as is the LGBTQ+ population. Yet these families are being targeted by significant onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and a worsening social climate. We examine trajectories of depressive symptoms, anxious symptoms, and loneliness among by sexual orientation from the pandemic through the 2025 using three waves of data from the National Couples’ Health and Time Study. Overall, we find stability in depression, anxiety, and loneliness when examining weighted average within person change via difference-in-difference models by sexual identity. Yet spaghetti plots illustrated substantial sample variability despite aggregate stability. We then conducted weighted Latent Growth Curve Models. We examined key vulnerabilities and strengths; model fit improved when strengths were added to the model above and beyond vulnerability only models. Discrimination was a strong significant predictor of all three indicators of wellbeing and was most pronounced for depressive symptoms. Social support, community support, and family functioning attenuated the negative effects of discrimination but did not fully eliminate the discrimination effects. Relationship quality was consistently associated with better wellbeing across all three outcomes. Perceived lesbian, gay, and bisexual positive community climate buffered depression and anxiety for sexual minority groups. Overall, there is no evidence that wellbeing improved since the end of the pandemic.
Dush et al. (2026) studied this question.