How Does Sexual Minority Stigma “Get Under the Skin”? A Psychological Mediation Framework

By M. Hatzenbuehler. Psychological bulletin, 2009

2,445 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Sexual minorities are at increased risk for multiple mental health burdens compared to heterosexuals. The field has identified two distinct determinants of this risk, including group-specific minority stressors and general psychological processes that are common across sexual orientations. The goal of the present paper is to develop a theoretical framework that integrates the important insights from these literatures. The framework postulates that (a) sexual minorities confront increased stress exposure resulting from stigma; (b) this stigma-related stress creates elevations in general emotion dysregulation, social/interpersonal problems, and cognitive processes conferring risk for psychopathology; and (c) these processes in turn mediate the relationship between stigma-related stress and psychopathology. It is argued that this framework can, theoretically, illuminate how stigma adversely affects mental health and, practically, inform clinical interventions. Evidence for the predictive validity of this framework is reviewed, with particular attention paid to illustrative examples from research on depression, anxiety, and alcohol use disorders.

Subfields: Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bd66e3a85bef034aff2daee7a0b3a0dc408213f7

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Citations in the corpus

Structural Stigma and the Health of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Populations (2014, background): “Theoretical work has suggested several psychosocial pathways linking sexual-orientation stigma to health (Hatzenbuehler, 2009), but few of these mechanisms have been explicitly connected to structural stigma.”
Minority Stress and Physical Health Among Sexual Minorities (2013, background): “Indeed, an extensive literature on minority stress suggests that LGB individuals face mental health disparities due to their frequent experiences with antigay stigma (Hatzenbuehler, 2009; Meyer, 2003).”
Stigma and suicide risk among the LGBTQ population: Are anxiety and depression to blame and can connectedness to the LGBTQ community help? (2019, background): “…the existing literature by documenting the role of symptoms of anxiety and depression as a potential point of linkage between perceived stigma and suicidal behavior, supporting the psychological mediation model of the relation between stigma and minority stress (Hatzenbuehler, 2009; Meyer, 2013).”
Measuring Multiple Minority Stress: The LGBT People of Color Microaggressions Scale (2011, background): “Such disparities are often linked to stressful experiences of stigma and discrimination that accompany a minority social identity (Hatzenbuehler, 2009).”
Suicide Attempts Among Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Adults (2014, background): “Finally, prior studies have suggested that lack of disclosure and attempts to conceal sexual orientation contributes to lower levels of mental health for lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals (Meyer, 2003; Pachankis, 2007; Hatzenbuehler, 2009; Schrimshaw, Siegel, Downing & Parsons, 2013).”
Stigma as a Fundamental Cause of Population Health Inequalities (2013, positive): “, social support) will reset to harmful levels when the intervention is withdrawn, because the larger social environment in which stigma persists is left unaltered.(29) We highlight this intervention not as a criticism of the researchers, but instead as a cautionary example of what can happen when t”
Minority Stressors and Psychological Distress in Transgender Individuals (2017, positive): “…modifiable causes of the heightened levels of psychological distress experienced by sexual minority individuals, there is a wealth of relevant research on processes experienced by the general population, such as rumination, that could potentially do the same (Diamond, 2003; Hatzenbuehler, 2009).”
Rape Prevention and Risk Reduction: Review of the Research Literature for Practitioners (2009, positive): “LGBTQ youth are frequently ‘‘invisible in mainstream youth programs’’ (Horn et al. 2009, p. 864), and youth partner abuse prevention programs are no exception to this.”
The impact of institutional discrimination on psychiatric disorders in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: a prospective study. (2010, background): “More recent research has indicated that experiences of discrimination may also create a cascade of psychological responses, including hopelessness, emotion dysregulation, and social isolation.(44) Some of these psychological processes have been shown to mediate the relationship between stressors res”
Multiple Oppressions and the Mental Health of Sexual Minority Latina/o Individuals (2015, background): “These findings are inconsistent with propositions that external oppressions lead to internalized oppressions (Hatzenbuehler, 2009).”
The Stigma Complex (2015, background): “…social psychological dispositions (Corrigan et al. 2006, Inzlicht et al. 2006, Lysaker et al. 2007, Major & O’Brien 2005), physiological effects (Hatzenbuehler 2009), violence (Silton et al. 2011), educational outcomes (Grollman 2012, Guyll et al. 2010, McLeod & Kaiser 2004, McLeod et al.…”