Minority stress and physical health among sexual minority individuals

By D. Frost, K. Lehavot, I. Meyer. Journal of behavioral medicine, 2013

649 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This study examined the effects of minority stress on the physical health of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs). Participants (N = 396) completed baseline and one year follow-up interviews. Exposure to stress and health outcomes were assessed with two methods: a subjective self-appraisal method and a method whereby two independent judges externally rated event narratives using standardized criteria. The odds of experiencing a physical health problem at follow-up were significantly higher among LGBs who experienced an externally rated prejudice event during the follow-up period compared to those who did not. This association persisted after adjusting for experiences of general stressful life events that were not related to prejudice. Self-appraised minority stress exposures were not associated with poorer physical health at 1-year follow-up. Prejudice-related stressful life events have a unique deleterious impact on health that persists above and beyond the effect of stressful life events unrelated to prejudice.

Subfields: Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/36028a7481140222f299d24ca9afd11dfc1558c5

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Social Psychology

1. M. Botha
2. Fiorenzo Laghi
3. Barbara Marasco
4. Roberto Baiocco
5. Emma Baumgartner
6. B. Willoughby
7. D. Frost
8. L. Fontanesi

In Sociology and Political Science

1. M. Botha
2. Fiorenzo Laghi
3. Roberto Baiocco
4. B. Willoughby
5. D. Frost
6. Salvatore Ioverno
7. I. Meyer

Citations in the corpus

• Extending the Minority Stress Model to Understand Mental Health Problems Experienced by the Autistic Population (2018, background): “Thus, these findings support previous research indicating that minority stress has a unique and additive negative effect on health, which is not reducible to general stress alone (Frost et al. 2015).”
• Negative Parental Responses to Coming Out and Family Functioning in a Sample of Lesbian and Gay Young Adults (2015, background): “However, despite the potential benefits of CO, there are also associated stressors, which can have a deleterious impact on physical and psychological health (Frost et al. 2013).”