Minority stress and racial or ethnic minority status: A test of the greater risk perspective.

Abstract

Latent variable structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test expectations of stigma, internalized heterosexism, and identity disclosure as mediators of the associations of heterosexist discrimination with psychological distress and well-being. Multigroup invariance testing was used to evaluate the predictions of the greater risk perspective, which contends that racial or ethnic minority (REM) sexual minorities (a) experience higher levels of minority stressors relative to their White peers and (b) that the associations among these stressors and between the stressors and mental health outcomes are stronger for REM sexual minority people than for White sexual minority people. Participants were 813 sexual minority adults (n ϭ 318 REM; n ϭ 495 White) who completed an online survey. Results of the SEM indicated that heterosexist discrimination, expectations of stigma, and low disclosure were each uniquely related to poorer mental health (i.e., higher distress, lower well-being); internalized heterosexism's unique associations with both mental health outcomes were nonsignificant. Expectations of stigma and disclosure (but not internalized heterosexism) mediated the relations of heterosexist discrimination with psychological distress and well-being. The invariance tests did not support the predictions of the greater risk perspective. Implications of these findings for clinical work and research with racially and ethnically diverse sexual minority people are discussed. Public Significance StatementThis study found that various heterosexist stressors were independently associated with poorer mental health among sexual minority people. Furthermore, the levels of these stressors and their associations with mental health did not differ between White and racial/ethnic minority people. Thus, it is important to explore the role of heterosexism in the lives and mental health of diverse sexual minority people.

Are Black Sexual Minority Adults More Likely to Report Higher Levels of Psychological Distress than White Sexual Minority Adults? Findings from the 2013–2017 National Health Interview Survey

“…The results showed that sexual minority status was associated with increased risk for psychological distress for both Black adults and White adults. However, the results did not indicate that Black sexual minority adults had significantly higher levels of psychological distress than White sexual minority adults, which is a similar finding in recent studies (Bostwick et al 2018;Velez et al 2017).…”

“…While previous research found that Black adults are more likely to report higher levels of psychological distress than White adults (Barnes and Bates 2017), a recent study using the NHIS found no significant difference in psychological distress between Black adults and White adults (Watkins and Johnson 2018). Using the minority stress framework, one study found that sexual minorities who are racial and ethnic minorities (REM) were just as likely to experience sexual orientation-related stressors such as heterosexist discrimination, expectations of stigma, and not coming out as sexual minorities who are White (Velez et al 2017). On the other hand, using the intersectionality framework, many studies show that REM sexual minorities are more likely to experience stressors associated with their racial minority status compared to White sexual minorities.…”

Heterosexism, Racism, and the Mental Health of Sexual Minority People of Color

“…These data cleaning procedures resulted in a sample of 813 participants, which represented 35% of those who clicked the informed consent. We have published an article based on the total sample, in which we compared European American and racial and/or ethnic minority sexual minority people's experiences of heterosexist stressors (Velez, Watson, Cox, & Flores, 2017).…”

Gender Identity and Expression in LGBTQ+ Communities: Implications for the Practice of Psychology

“…Clinicians, teachers, and advocates should also be aware of the ways in which possessing multiple marginalized identities may affect LGBTQþ individuals and communities. Two strains of thought regarding the social experiences of queer people of color have appeared in the literature; these include the greater risk versus greater resilience perspectives (Velez, Polihronakis, Watson, & Cox, in press;Velez, Watson, Cox, & Flores, 2017). The greater risk perspective suggests that, as a result of holding both a stigmatized racial and sexual identity, queer people of color are at greater risk of developing adverse outcomes.…”