Objectives: We used microlongitudinal methods to examine the prevalence and day-to-day correlates of intersectional experiences (IEs) in a U.S. sample of 131 Black sexual minorities. Method: ...Participants were 97 gay/lesbian people (74.0%) and 34 bisexuals (26.0%); nearly a third of the sample also identified as queer (32.1%). Most participants identified solely as Black; however, 23 participants (17.6%) indicated at least 1 secondary racial/ethnic identification. Every evening for 1 week, participants reported both negative and positive IEs from the last 24 hr and completed measures of identity conflict, rumination, and affect. Multilevel path analysis was used to test daily relations between IEs and mood-as well as the mediating roles of identity conflict and rumination-at the within- and between-person levels, controlling for nonintersectional experiences (e.g., related only to race, related only to sexual orientation, unrelated to identity). Results: Negative IEs (n = 97, 11.4% of total days) were related with identity conflict and negative affect at both levels of analysis and with negative rumination at the within-person level only. Positive IEs (n = 263, 31.0% of total days) predicted positive rumination and positive affect (but not identity conflict) both within and between persons. Many hypothesized indirect paths were supported-for example, identity conflict and rumination mediated the relation between negative IEs and negative affect at the within-person level. Conclusion: Building upon accumulating research linking stigma and health, this study demonstrates that multiple axes of oppression can jointly shape daily events and predict fluctuations in psychological health.
What is the public health significance of this article?
Whereas most studies of stigma-related stress focus on one type of stigma (e.g., racism) in isolation from others (e.g., homophobia), this study demonstrates that daily events related to both one's race and sexual orientation (i.e., intersectional experiences) are associated with day-to-day changes in Black sexual minorities' psychological well-being. Findings may inform clinical and community interventions aiming to increase the health and resilience of this understudied population.
Little is known about people who experience multiple types of discrimination (e.g., racism and heterosexism). While some work suggests that multiply discriminated groups are at higher risk for poor ...mental health, other studies propose that they may develop resilience against additional kinds of discrimination. We conducted a review of published studies on the relationship between multiple types of discrimination and mental health to critically examine evidence in support of broad risk and resilience models. Using PRISMA guidelines, we identified 40 studies that met our inclusion criteria. Typically, studies examined either whether experiencing multiple discrimination was related to poorer mental health, or whether one kind of discrimination was more predictive of poor mental health. Studies generally showed support for the risk model, with multiple forms of discrimination associated with higher risk for depression symptoms. Furthermore, both racism and heterosexism uniquely predicted symptoms of depression, although initial evidence suggested that only heterosexism predicted suicidality among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) racial/ethnic minorities. Findings on multiple discrimination and other mental health problems (e.g., anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder PTSD, distress, and substance use) were mixed. The current evidence suggests that multiply discriminated groups exhibit higher risk for some mental health problems, particularly depression symptoms. However, methodological problems abound in this literature (e.g., correspondence between study sample and types of discrimination assessed), which limits our ability to draw clear conclusions about multiple discrimination. We propose that to further our understanding of how multiple kinds of discrimination may affect mental health, studies must remedy these and other issues.
Public Policy Relevance Statement
Discrimination is related to poorer mental health. Experiencing multiple kinds of discrimination (e.g., racism and heterosexism) may further increase people's chances of developing depression symptoms. Experiencing racism and heterosexism both uniquely contribute to depression risk among racially/ethnically diverse sexual and gender minorities. Although only a few studies examined suicide risk, some initial evidence indicates that experiencing heterosexism, above and beyond racism, may explain suicidal risk among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) racial/ethnic minorities.
Positive distinctiveness threat is central for understanding ingroup bias, but its role in gender differences in the expression of sexual prejudice is not yet satisfactorily elucidated. We analyzed ...this issue by proposing that sexual prejudice is a defensive reaction to ensure intergroup distinctiveness, so that heterosexual men are more prejudiced against homosexuals than heterosexual women because they strive more for positive distinctiveness. In Study 1 (N = 232), we found that men exhibited more prejudice against gay men than lesbians, while women did not significantly differentiate their prejudice against these target groups. In Study 2, we manipulated the target group of prejudice (gay men vs. lesbians) in a sample of heterosexual men (N = 79) and confirmed that they differentiated more between heterosexual men and gay men than between heterosexual women and lesbians. In Study 3 (N = 177), we manipulated the threat to the distinctiveness between the ingroup (i.e., heterosexual men and heterosexual women) and the outgroup (i.e., gay men and lesbians) and demonstrated that the perceived distinctiveness mediates the relationship between gender and sexual prejudice in men but not in women. Finally, in Study 4 (N = 75), we manipulated the distinctiveness threat for men and women and measured sexual prejudice by using an implicit measure. The results showed more implicit prejudice in men than in women when intergroup distinctiveness was threatened (vs. affirmed). Our results have important implications for understanding sexual prejudice by shedding light on the role played by the distinctiveness threat of gender differences in expressing homophobia.
This meta-analytic review addresses whether the major dimensions of trait personality relate to components of human sexuality. A comprehensive literature search identified 137 studies that met ...inclusion criteria (761 effect sizes; total n = 420,595). Pooled mean effects were computed using inverse-variance weighted random effects meta-analysis. Mean effect sizes from 100 separate meta-analyses provided evidence that personality relates to theoretically predicted components of sexuality and sexual health. Neuroticism was positively related to sexual dissatisfaction (r+ = .18), negative emotions (r+ = .42), and symptoms of sexual dysfunction (r+ = .16). Extraversion was positively related to sexual activity (r+ = .17) and risky sexual behavior (r+ = .18), and negatively related to symptoms of sexual dysfunction (r+ = −.17). Openness was positively related to homosexual orientation (r+ = .16) and liberal attitudes toward sex (r+ = .19). Agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively related to sexually aggressive behavior (r+ = −.20; r+ = −.14) and sexual infidelity (r+ = −.18; r+ = −.17). Less robust evidence indicated that extraversion related negatively, and neuroticism positively, to child sexual abuse, and that openness related negatively to homophobic attitudes. Random effects metaregression identified age, gender, and study quality as important moderators of pooled mean effects. These findings might be of interest to health care professionals developing health care services that aim to promote sexually healthy societies.
Public Significance Statement
Personality traits are important for sexuality and sexual health. Personality traits related to lifetime sexual partners, involvement in casual sex, infidelity, sexual orientation, homophobic attitudes, symptoms of sexual dysfunction, sexual risk taking, sexual harassment, and sexually aggressive behavior.
This article describes a social psychological framework for understanding sexual stigma, and it reports data on sexual minority individuals' stigma-related experiences. The framework distinguishes ...between stigma's manifestations in society's institutions (
heterosexism
) and among individuals. The latter include
enacted sexual stigma
(overt negative actions against sexual minorities, such as hate crimes),
felt sexual stigma
(expectations about the circumstances in which sexual stigma will be enacted), and
internalized sexual stigma
(personal acceptance of sexual stigma as part of one's value system and self-concept). Drawing from previous research on internalized sexual stigma among heterosexuals (i.e.,
sexual prejudice
), the article considers possible parallels in how sexual minorities experience internalized sexual stigma (i.e.,
self-stigma
, or negative attitudes toward the self). Data are presented from a community sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults (
N
= 2,259) to illustrate the model's utility for generating and testing hypotheses concerning self-stigma.
The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition) includes edits to Criterion A for posttraumatic stress disorder in an attempt to capture a wide variety ...of potentially traumatic events. However, despite criticism by scholars in the field (e.g., Kira, 2001; Gilfus, 1999; Helms, Nicolas, & Green, 2012) and overwhelming evidence documenting the negative impact of oppression on the mental health of its targets (e.g., Carter, 2007), the way in which Criterion A is written fails to include the insidious trauma of oppression. There is a small but compelling literature base that has demonstrated oppression to be a form of trauma by examining the relationship among various forms of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism) and trauma-related symptoms (e.g., Alessi, Martin, Gyamerah, & Meyer, 2013; Berg, 2006; Pieterse, Carter, Evans, & Walter, 2010). The authors make a case for expanding the current definition of Criterion A to incorporate the full range of oppressive forces by providing empirical support demonstrating the relationship between experiences of oppression and trauma-related outcomes and by arguing that this change is appropriately political and consistent with social justice values held by psychology.
Objectives: Sexual and gender minoritized people (SGM) of color experience stigma unique to their intersection of identities, such as racism from SGM and heterosexism from people of color (POC) in ...their same racial/ethnic group. SGM POC who experience enacted stigma, like microaggressions, have been found to have poorer mental health outcomes. SGM identity authenticity and connections to the SGM community have been associated with better mental health. We sought to test if intersectional enacted stigma, identity authenticity, community connectedness, and the interactions between enacted stigma and authenticity and community were associated with mental health in assigned female at birth (AFAB) SGM young adults of color. Method: Data come from 341 racial/ethnic minoritized SGM-AFAB (Mage = 21.23, SD = 3.80). Multivariate linear regressions tested main effects of intersectional enacted stigma (heterosexism from POC and racism from SGM) and authenticity and community on mental health, as well as interaction effects on mental health. Results: SGM-AFAB POC who experienced more heterosexism from POC reported more anxiety and depression symptoms. Greater connection to the SGM community was associated with fewer anxiety and depression symptoms. Heterosexism from POC and community connection interacted such that SGM-AFAB who experienced less heterosexism from POC reported fewer mental health symptoms if they were more connected to the SGM community, but SGM-AFAB who experienced more heterosexism did not benefit from stronger community connection. Conclusions: Heterosexism from other POC may put SGM POC at higher exposure for negative mental health outcomes and reduce the mental health benefits of a stronger connection to the SGM community.
Public Significance Statement
Sexual and gender minoritized (SGM) young adults of color who experience heterosexism from others in their same racial/ethnic group report poorer mental health. A greater connection with the SGM community is associated with better mental health, but that connection is less effective for SGM young adults of color who experience more heterosexism from their racial/ethnic community.
There is evidence that discrimination directed toward gay men from some heterosexual men is partially driven by heterosexual men attempting to distance themselves from gay men's perceived femininity. ...There is also evidence that many gay men wish they were more masculine than they currently are and will distance themselves from other gay men perceived as being feminine. This persisting stereotype that gay men are insufficiently masculine was theorized to lead gay men to be vulnerable to threats to their masculinity so that they would react to such threats by distancing themselves from feminine-stereotyped gay men and by attempting to present themselves as more masculine. The current study subjected 58 Italian gay men (mean age of 29.10 years, SD = 8.25) to either a threat or an affirmation of their masculinity, and observed reactions to vignettes describing masculine- and feminine-stereotyped gay men. It was hypothesized that those subjected to a threat to their masculinity would report less liking for, less comfort with, and less desire to interact with feminine gay men, while reporting greater similarity to masculine gay men. These hypotheses were partially supported: participants who were threatened in their masculinity reported being more similar to masculine gay men (η2 = .09), and showed less interest in interacting with feminine gay men (η2 = .09) than participants whose masculinity was affirmed. These findings suggest that, despite the fact that they are often stereotyped as feminine, gay men may still feel pressure to conform to masculine role norms.
Objective: We examined the direct and indirect impact of minority stress on mental health and substance use among sexual minority women. Method: A combination of snowball and targeted sampling ...strategies was used to recruit lesbian and bisexual women (N = 1,381) for a cross-sectional, online survey. Participants (M age = 33.54 years; 74% White) completed a questionnaire assessing gender expression, minority stressors (i.e., victimization, internalized homophobia, and concealment), social-psychological resources (i.e., social support, spirituality), and health-related outcomes. We used structural equation modeling to test associations among these factors, with gender expression as an antecedent and social-psychological resources as a mediator between minority stress and health. Results: The final model demonstrated acceptable fit, χ2(79) = 414.00, p < .05, confirmatory fit index = .93, Tucker-Lewis index = .91, standardized root-mean-square residual = .05, root-mean-square error of approximation = .06, accounting for significant portions of the variance in mental health problems (56%) and substance use (14%), as well as the mediator social-psychological resources (24%). Beyond indirect effects of minority stress on health outcomes, direct links emerged between victimization and substance use and between internalized homophobia and substance use. Conclusions: Findings indicate a significant impact of minority stressors and social-psychological resources on mental health and substance use among sexual minority women. The results improve understanding of the distinct role of various minority stressors and their mechanisms on health outcomes. Health care professionals should assess for minority stress and coping resources and refer for evidence-based psychosocial treatments.
Research has found heterosexist discrimination negatively relates to vocational outcomes among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people, but no known study has examined how heterosexist discrimination ...relates to the attainment of decent work. Building from the Psychology of Working Theory, which proposes that specific forms of marginalization coupled with economic constraints limit a person's ability to secure decent work, the present study examined theoretically hypothesized pathways to decent work among a sample of employed sexual minority adults. Heterosexist discrimination and social class were examined as direct predictors of decent work, and indirect links were examined via work volition and career adaptability. Among our sample of 218 sexual minority people, structural equation modeling results suggested heterosexist discrimination and social class directly-and indirectly through work volition-predicted decent work. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Public Significance Statement
Our study illustrates how greater experiences of discrimination and higher levels of social class among sexual minority people impact work-related outcomes. Our results highlight the need for social change at a systemic level to help prevent the negative effects of heterosexist discrimination on working lives.
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