On the Relationship Between Online Heterosexist Discrimination and Mental Health and Substance Use Among LGBTQ+  Young Adults

Arch Sex Behav. 2024 Jan 22. doi: 10.1007/s10508-023-02800-6. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTLGBTQ+ individuals experience disproportionately higher rates of mental health and substance use difficulties. Discrimination is a significant factor in explaining these disparities. Meyer's (2003) minority stress theory (MST) indicates that proximal group-specific processes mediate the relationship between discrimination and health outcomes, with the effects moderated by other social factors. However, online discrimination has been understudied among LGBTQ+ people. Focusing on LGBTQ+ young adults experiencing online heterosexist discrimination (OHD), the current study aimed to investigate the effect of OHD on mental health outcomes and explore whether the effect was mediated by proximal factors of internalized heterosexism, online concealment, and acceptance concerns and moderated by social support. Path analysis was used to examine the effects. A total of 383 LGBTQ+ young adults (18-35) from an introductory psychology subject pool, two online crowdsourcing platforms, and the community completed a questionnaire assessing these constructs. OHD was associated with increased psychological distress and cannabis use. Two proximal stressors (acceptance concerns and sexual orientation concealment) mediated the relationship between OHD and psychological distress. Sexual orientation concealment also mediated the relationship between OHD and cannabis use. There was no evidence that online socia...

Source: Archives of Sexual Behavior - January 22, 2024 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ian Carson Wei Wu Amy Knopf Christopher Andrew Crawford Tamika C B Zapolski Source Type: research