ABSTRACT
The field of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) mental health 1 witnessed a number of important and exciting new research directions. In recent years, there has been an unprecedented proliferation of studies examining the mental health status of individuals with a minority sexual orientation. Coupled with this is an evolution in research methodologies that increasingly strive to generate more accurate descriptions of the health and mental health characteristics of this population. In this chapter, we review both the traditional convenience-based sampling approaches common to studying the mental health of the LGB population and some of the newer systematic sampling designs. Our focus is on explicating how sampling design may influence our understanding of mental health concerns among LGB individuals.
