Little research has examined the management of multiple minority identities among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people of color, despite a growing theoretical literature on such identity intersections. The present study focused on the intersectional construct of conflicts in allegiances (CIA), defined as perceived incompatibility between one's racial/ethnic and sexual orientation identities. CIA was investigated in relation to experiences of parental heterosexism, racism in LGB communities, outness, and racial/ethnic and sexual orientation group identity. Participants were 124 LGB people of color (main sample) and 124 LGB White people (comparison sample) who completed self-report measures of the main variables as part of a larger survey of same-sex couples. CIA was positively correlated with experiences of racism within LGB communities and perceived heterosexism in one's mother (but not one's father), and negatively correlated with outness to family (but not outness to others in one's everyday life). An interaction was found between racial/ethnic and LGB group identity with respect to behavioral engagement: CIA levels were highest among participants with high racial/ethnic behavioral engagement and low sexual orientation behavioral engagement. Results highlight the role of minority and family contexts in CIA among LGB people of color, and, more broadly, the potential value of studying intersectional variables using quantitative methods. Longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to address questions about direction of influence raised by findings.

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 betweenperson levels, controlling for nonintersectional experiences (e.g., related only to race, related only to sexual orientation, unrelated to identity). Results: Negative IEs (n ϭ 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 ϭ 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.

Daily diary methods were used to explore identity-related stress and support processes as they occurred from day-to-day in a sample of 61 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) young adults. At the end of each day for 7-10 consecutive days, participants reported on daily identity-salient experiences (ISEs), proximal minority stressors (internalized stigma, expectations of rejection), and affect (positive, negative). A multilevel latent covariate model was used to examine within- and between-person interrelations among these variables. Participants described a variety of positive and negative ISEs with both heterosexual and LGB people. These ISEs accounted for change in affect from 1 day to the next, even controlling for positive and negative experiences unrelated to identity. For example, relative to the previous day, participants experienced increases in positive affect on days featuring positive ISEs with both heterosexual people and LGB people. ISEs also predicted daily proximal stress variables, and findings differed at the 2 levels of analysis. For example, at the within-person level, participants experienced decreases in internalized stigma on days featuring positive ISEs with heterosexuals. At the between-person level, however, findings indicated that participants who generally had the highest levels of internalized stigma were more likely than others to report negative ISEs with LGB people and less likely to report positive ISEs with LGB people. Finally, proximal stress variables predicted affect at the within-person level: Affect improved on days when levels of internalized stigma and expected rejection were lower than usual. (PsycINFO Database Record

Minority stress theory describes the excess stressors to which individuals from stigmatized groups are exposed as a result of their marginalized status(es), which can contribute to higher rates of depression among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals. The psychological mediation framework expanded on minority stress theory by proposing that rumination may link minority stressors to depression. Although previous studies have shown that rumination mediates associations between minority stressors and psychological distress among SGM individuals, many have done so using cross-sectional data, despite mediation being a process that occurs over time. To address this limitation, the present longitudinal study examined rumination as a mediator of the associations of three minority stressors (i.e., victimization, microaggressions, and internalized stigma) with depressive symptoms among 1,130 young men who have sex with men (YMSM) and young transgender women (YTW). The data were taken from baseline, 6-month, and 1-year assessments from a large cohort of YMSM and YTW. Consistent with hypotheses, rumination at 6-month follow-up fully longitudinally mediated associations between victimization, microaggressions, and internalized stigma at baseline and depression at 1-year follow-up. Results suggest that rumination is an important area of intervention for clinicians treating SGM individuals who experience symptoms of depression.

This study strongly suggests that minority stressors contribute to the high levels of anxiety and depression experienced by sexual and gender minority individuals assigned female at birth. It also provides some evidence that minority stressors may also contribute to high rates of alcohol and cannabis use problems in this population. Study findings highlight the need for individual level clinical interventions that aim to reduce the impact of minority stress on health as well as societal interventions that aim to eliminate the anti-SGM stigma that causes minority stress.

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Objective: Sexual and gender minority people of color (SGM-POC) experience intersectional forms of minority stress, including heterosexism within racial/ethnic minority communities, which can contribute to feelings of conflict between SGM and racial/ethnic identities. Internalized stigma may be a consequence of sexual orientation-based discrimination but has not been tested as a mechanism linking intersectional minority stress to identity conflict among SGM-POC. We hypothesized that the association between experiences of heterosexism in racial/ethnic minority communities and identity conflict would be mediated by internalized stigma among SGM assigned female at birth (SGM-AFAB). Method: Participants were 316 SGM-AFAB who identified as POC. Data were collected as a part of an ongoing longitudinal cohort study of young SGM-AFAB. We tested the longitudinal mediation using data from baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 1-year follow-up assessments. Results: Internalized stigma at 6-month follow-up partially mediated the association between experiences of heterosexism in racial/ethnic minority communities at baseline and identity conflict at 1-year follow-up. Conclusions: For SGM-POC, experiences of heterosexism within their racial/ethnic communities may lead to internalization of those negative attitudes. A consequence of internalizing heterosexist attitudes from one's racial/ethnic group could be a feeling that one's sexual orientation and racial/ethnic identities must remain separate, perhaps to maintain connection to one's racial/ ethnic community. Identifying internalized stigma as a mediating process is critical to better understand identity development for SGM-POC, and has important clinical implications for working with this population. Public Significance StatementSexual and gender minority people of color (SGM-POC) experience unique forms of discrimination, such as heterosexism within racial/ethnic minority communities, that can affect their identity development. Results of this study showed that among SGM-POC, experiences of heterosexism within one's racial/ethnic community contributed to more feelings of conflict between their SGM and racial/ethnic identities over time.

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