Coping as a mediator of internalized homophobia and psychological distress among young adult sexual minority women.

Abstract

Sexual minorities have higher rates of depression and anxiety than their heterosexual counterparts. This elevated risk of psychological distress has generally been hypothesized to be a result of the effects of discrimination including internalized negative beliefs about sexual minorities. However, little research has examined the role of various types of coping in mediating between internalized homophobia and mental health. We tested the direct relationship between internalized homophobia and psychological distress and evaluated general and sexual minority-specific coping strategies as potential mediators using structural equation modeling. Data are from a national sample of 1,099 young adult sexual minority women who were on average 20.86 (SD= 2.12) years old, participating in a study on mental health and substance use. The model demonstrated acceptable fit, χ2 (83) = 402.9, p <.001, CFI=.94, TLI=.92, SRMR= .07, and RMSEA=.06, accounting for 73% of variance in psychological distress. Greater use of maladaptive coping and less use of sexual minority-specific coping were associated with higher psychological distress. Although maladaptive coping mediated the relationship between internalized homophobia and psychological distress, sexual minority-specific coping did not. Our findings support previous studies that have demonstrated the impact of internalized homophobia on psychological distress as well as the role of coping as a protective/risk factor in this relationship.

Resilience in LGB Youths: A Systematic Review of Protection Mechanisms

“…In addition, the salience of the LGBQ identity was positively correlated with self-esteem, despite not being a significant predictor. The use of coping strategies related to sexual orientation (e.g., confronting the homophobia, self-acceptance, informing on the sexual orientation) or omitting one's sexual orientation vs. coming-out was not associated either with depression (Kaysen et al, 2014;Dunn et al, 2014;Sandfort et al, 2015) or anxiety (Kaysen et al, 2014;Sandfort et al, 2015). In the participants who perceived they had little competence to solve difficult situations, however, the omission of their sexual orientation predicted depression (Dunn et al, 2014).…”

“…The studies were published between 2006 and 2015 but, in one of the studies (Pearson & Wilkinson, 2013), the data were collected in 1995 and 1996. Almost half of the studies were conducted in the United States of America (Kaysen et al, 2014;Pearson & Wilkinson, 2013;Walker & LongmireAvital, 2013;Woodford et al, 2015a;2015b;, although other geographical origins were also represented: United Kingdom (Rivers & Cowie, 2006), Austria (Ploderl et al, 2010), Canada (Benibgui, 2011), The Netherlands (Baams et al, 2014), Brazil (Dunn et al, 2014) and South Africa (Sandfort et al, 2015). Two studies present data from samples that a part of the participants are the same (Woodford et al, 2015b;.…”

“…Among the 13 studies included, 12 were published in scientific journals (Baams, Bos & Jonas, 2014;Dunn, Gonzalez, Costa, Nardi & Iantaffi, 2014;Kaysen, Kulesza, Balsam, Rhew, Blayney, Lehavot & Hughes, 2014;Pearson & Wilkinson, 2013;Ploderl, Faistauer & Fartacek, 2010;Rivers & Cowie, 2006;Sandfort, Bos, Knox & Reddy, 2015;Spencer & Patrick, 2009;Walker & Longmire-Avital, 2013;Woodford, Kulick & Atteberry, 2015;Woodford, Kulick, Sinco & Hong, 2014;Woodford, Paceley, Kulick & Hong, 2015) and one was a doctoral dissertation (Benibgui, 2011). The studies were published between 2006 and 2015 but, in one of the studies (Pearson & Wilkinson, 2013), the data were collected in 1995 and 1996.…”

“…Concerning the specific personal protection mechanisms, three studies focused on aspects related to the LGB identity: identification with the LGB community (Sandfort et al, 2015), LGB pride (Woodford et al, 2014), salience of LGB identity (Woodford et al, 2015b), the use of coping strategies related to the sexual orientation (Kaysen et al, 2014) and the tendency to coming-out or omit one's sexual orientation (Dunn et al, 2014;Sandfort et al, 2015). The identification with the LGB community was neither associated, with nor did it predict, depression and anxiety (Sandfort et al, 2015).…”

“…As general personal protection mechanisms, the effects analyzed were related to self-esteem (Woodford et al, 2015a(Woodford et al, , 2014, anxious personality (Walker & LongmireAvital, 2013), religiosity (Walker & Longmire-Avital, 2013), perceived control, namely perceived competence to solve difficult situations and mastery (Dunn et al, 2014;Spencer & Patrick, 2009), general coping strategies (Kaysen et al, 2014), physical exercise (Woodford et al, 2015a) and variation in cortisol levels (Benibgui, 2011). Self-esteem was a significant predictor of depression, anxiety and physical health problems in the presence of heterosexist harassments (Woodford et al, 2015a).…”