Social support and dementia risk in sexual and gender minority adults
Official title: Social Convoys, Cognitive Reserve and Resilience, and Risk for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias
Funded at New York State Psychiatric Institute Dba Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, INC · NIH-11367854 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Looks at how stress and social support relate to thinking skills and brain health in LGBTQ+ adults compared with straight, cisgender adults.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | New York State Psychiatric Institute Dba Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, INC NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | September 15, 2020 |
| Project end | May 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $634,712 |
| NIH project number | 5R01AG069041-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11367854 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are sexual and gender minority adults aged 25–85 who can complete surveys and cognitive testing and are willing to share information about their social networks.
✕Less likely to help
People with advanced dementia seeking immediate treatment, or those unwilling to complete interviews or cognitive tests, are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this observational project.
What this research studies
You would join a group of 300 sexual and gender minority adults (ages 25–85) who will answer questions about general stress, minority-related stress, social connections, and access to care. You would also complete standard cognitive tests and questionnaires about loneliness and support. Your results will be compared with 300 matched straight, cisgender participants from an ongoing aging study. Researchers will also run secondary analyses of existing MRI brain scans to explore possible differences in brain features between groups.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Could identify social support features and service gaps that help protect cognitive health in LGBTQ+ people and guide future prevention efforts.
How similar studies have gone: Prior research shows social support helps cognitive aging in general, but targeted studies in sexual and gender minority groups are limited and the brain imaging comparisons are exploratory.
Where this research is happening
-
New York State Psychiatric Institute Dba Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, INC
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Bockting, Walter O. — New York State Psychiatric Institute Dba Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, INC
- Study coordinator: Bockting, Walter O.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.