Minority Stress and Sexual Problems among African-American Gay and Bisexual Men

Abstract

Minority stress, such as racism and gay bashing, may be associated with sexual problems, but this notion has not been examined in the literature. African-American gay/bisexual men face a unique challenge in managing a double minority status, putting them at high risk for stress and sexual problems. This investigation examined ten predictors of sexual problems among 174 African-American gay/bisexual men. Covarying for age, a forward multiple regression analysis showed that the measures of self-esteem, male gender role stress, HIV prevention self-efficacy, and lifetime experiences with racial discrimination significantly added to the prediction of sexual problems. Gay bashing, psychiatric symptoms, low life satisfaction, and low social support were significantly correlated with sexual problems, but did not add to the prediction of sexual problems in the regression analysis. Mediation analyses showed that stress predicted psychiatric symptoms, which then predicted sexual problems. Sexual problems were not significantly related to HIV status, racial/ethnic identity, or gay identity. The findings from this study showed a relationship between experiences with racial and sexual discrimination and sexual problems while also providing support for mediation to illustrate how stress might cause sexual problems. Addressing minority stress in therapy may help minimize and treat sexual difficulties among minority gay/bisexual men.

Population Levels of Psychological Stress, Herpesvirus Reactivation and HIV

“…Segregation can lead to restricted socioeconomic attainment because it determines access to educational and employment opportunities, health-related resources and enforces social HIV risk networks/ behaviors. Similarly, institutionalized racism is a contextual factor that could increase risk of HIV transmission within populations by limiting access to care and treatment as well as other resources (Anonymous 2006;Foster 2007;Zamboni and Crawford 2007). The quality of the built environment is also a contextual factor.…”

Correlates of Sexual, Ethnic, and Dual Identity: A Study of Young Asian and Pacific Islander Men who Have Sex with Men

“…Sexual identity has been generally understudied while ethnic identity studies have been mainly focused on black communities (Blash & Unger, 1995;Crawford et al, 2002;Gurin & Epps, 1975;Lemon & Waehler, 1996;Parham & Helms, 1985;Zamboni & Crawford, 2007) or college students (Hovey, Kim, & Seligman, 2006;Kim & Chao, 2009;Phinney, 1990), leaving significant gaps in the understanding of identity formation among APIs. In addition, there is little empirical research validating the framework of dual identity drawn by previous scholars (Gock, 2001;Operario et al, 2008).…”

A disfunção sexual em homossexuais masculinos: Potencialidades e desafios

“…Até a um passado recente e no que concerne à saúde sexual, pouca atenção formal foi dirigida à população LGBT, adoptando a comunidade científica uma postura de afastamento (Bhugra & Wright, 2007;Kuyper & Vanwesenbeeck, 2011;Zamboni & Crawford, 2007). Uma revisão da literatura publicada entre 1980 e 1999 confirma o reduzido interesse dos investigadores nesta temática, uma vez que, de um universo de 3777 artigos, apenas 15 se centram na disfunção sexual de pessoas LGBT (Boehmer, 2002).…”

“…No mesmo sentido, vários estudos têm evidenciado uma associação entre a discriminação e o incremento de problemas de ordem sexual, com a diminuição da qualidade da relação conjugal (Otis, Rostosky, Riggle, & Hamrin, 2006;Zamboni & Crawford, 2007). Todavia, os estudos que procuram averiguar o efeito dessas respostas emocionais no funcionamento sexual são escassos e apresentam resultados pouco consistentes e por vezes contraditórios.…”