Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity最新文献

Sexual violence and associated risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are pressing and pervasive public health issues. Sexual minority men, or men whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual, are at heightened risk for both sexual violence and PTSD compared to heterosexual men. Regardless of sexual orientation, stigma surrounding sexual violence and masculinity norms can interfere with trauma processing and treatment, suggesting a need for treatments that target these factors to improve PTSD outcomes. In this study, 356 men with sexual trauma exposure were randomized to either motivational interviewing (MI) or peer-delivered MI plus affirmative care (MI+AC) adapted to be more affirming for sexual minority men. In this secondary data analysis, we hypothesized that the masculinity scores on self-reliance and emotional control would be negatively associated with PTSD symptoms and that participants in the MI+AC group would experience greater PTSD symptom reduction. Findings from the structural equation models revealed that PTSD symptoms decreased over time for both groups (β = -.19, p <.001) and that self-reliance mediated reductions in PTSD over time (β = .03, p = .013). However, these effects were not moderated by treatment type (β = -.01, p = .402). These results highlight self-reliance as a relevant treatment target for enhancing treatments for sexual trauma-exposed sexual minority men.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals are at a higher risk for cannabis and alcohol use disorders than cisgender, heterosexual individuals. However, little research has examined attempts to quit or reduce alcohol or cannabis use in SGM individuals. A few key risk factors for unsuccessful quit attempts identified in the general population-namely, substance use problems, mood disorders, coping-motivated use, and stress-are experienced at higher rates among SGM individuals than their cisgender, heterosexual peers. The prevalence of these risk factors and substance use disorders may put SGM individuals at higher risk of poor cessation outcomes. The current study aimed to cross-sectionally examine alcohol and cannabis use problems, minority stress, solitary use, and motives for use in association with cessation/reduction attempts in a sample of 408 sexual minority women and gender diverse individuals assigned female at birth. Results indicate that individuals who experienced more alcohol or cannabis use problems or frequently use substances to cope are more likely to have attempted to quit but less likely to have succeeded. Other alcohol and cannabis use motives, mental health, and solitary use were also associated with cessation outcomes but with less consistent patterns. Minority stress was unrelated to cessation attempts. Findings suggest a high desire to quit coupled with a low likelihood of success, especially among heavy users or those using alcohol or cannabis to cope. This highlights the need for prospective research and further examination of the role of coping on cessation attempts in this population.

Transgender and/or nonbinary (TNB) people often highlight romantic partners as a key source of social support related to their TNB identity. Accordingly, there is a need for validated measures to quantify TNB identity support in romantic relationships. We used a multi-phase process to develop and evaluate a multidimensional measure of TNB identity support from romantic partners. First, we generated items based on prior qualitative research, then used cognitive interviews with six TNB young adults (ages 18-30 years) to refine the items. Second, we piloted 59 items in a survey of 321 TNB people (16 years and older) reporting on current or recent romantic relationships. Using those data, we performed exploratory factor analysis to identify subscales, then selected 19 items based on factor loadings, item-subscale correlations, α-if-item-deleted, discrimination parameters, and item information curves. Third, we used weekly diary survey data from 299 romantically partnered TNB young adults (ages 18-30 years) to perform confirmatory factor analysis and assess reliability at the within- and between-relationship levels. Results indicate that the 19-item Transgender/Nonbinary Identity Support from Partners Scale (TISPS) is a reliable and valid measure of overall TNB identity support and five subtypes of support: Facilitation [of identity exploration], Identity Validation, Celebration, Allyship, and Understanding. The TISPS demonstrated strong psychometric properties at the between-relationships level, including a consistent factor structure, good full-scale and subscale reliability, and measurement invariance across key characteristics. The TISPS can be used in clinical and community settings and future research on the role of social support in TNB mental health.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) people assigned male at birth (AMAB) report high alcohol use, binge drinking, and alcohol problems. However, little is known about how SGM people AMAB may reduce or cease alcohol use, and the resources they draw upon to do so. The overarching aim of this report is to describe the types, frequencies, and relative success of attempts to quit/cut down on alcohol among a large sample of SGM people AMAB enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study. Participants 17-29 years old (N=939) were drawn from a longitudinal cohort of SGM people AMAB (RADAR), between 2015 and 2022. Participants completed self-reports of alcohol use, problems, and cessation attempts at up to 14 visits, separated by 6 months each. Results showed that alcohol use was high; between 16.2 and 29% of individuals at each wave displayed scores above the clinically-validated cutoff (≥8 total score) on the AUDIT. Few participants attempted to stop drinking during the study (88.9% reported no cessation attempts). A smaller percentage (9.4%) reported cessation once, while fewer (1.7%) reported cessation attempts on two separate occasions. Few participants made use of existing resources to assist in a cessation attempt, and individuals who made attempts to reduce their alcohol consumption, in comparison to those who did not, reported higher alcohol use. In all, these findings point to an unmet need with regard to alcohol cessation support in SGM people AMAB, and the lack of affirming and accessible treatment options may be contributing to continuing health inequities.

A growing body of research among sexual minority (e.g., gay, lesbian, bisexual) populations has highlighted unique mental health treatment needs and barriers to care. Despite the rapid proliferation of novel treatments across diverse delivery modalities to address these needs and barriers, few studies have assessed sexual minority people's preferences for mental health treatment. This study described sexual minority youth and young adults' mental health treatment preferences regarding treatment focus (e.g., support in coping with LGBTQ-related stressful events), treatment setting (e.g., in-person, remote), and counselor involvement (e.g., counselor-led, self-guided). Participants included a sample of U.S. sexual minority youth enrolled in an online LGBTQ-affirmative therapy study (n=120), a population-based sample of sexual minority young adults in Sweden (n=472), and a community sample of U.S. sexual minority youth (n = 9,423). This study also explored whether demographic, mental health and mental health treatment, and minority stress factors were associated with preferences for treatment focus, treatment setting, and counselor involvement. Across samples, a higher proportion of participants endorsed counselor-led compared to self-guided treatment. Most participants across samples endorsed a desire for in-person treatment, while endorsement of remote treatment varied based on contextual factors (e.g., age, anxiety symptoms). Internalized stigma and family rejection were associated with increased likelihood of desiring a treatment focus on coping with LGBTQ-related stressful events. Findings emphasize the need to balance trade-offs between accessibility of services and treatment preferences when implementing interventions for this population at scale.

Bi+ and transgender and gender diverse (TGD) people experience high rates of suicidal ideation (SI), theorized to result from experiencing oppression-based stress. However, the role of resilience in moderating these effects remains largely unexplored, especially among bi+ TGD individuals. The current study aims to address these limitations by examining if resilience factors (i.e., support, self-affirmation) moderate the associations between cissexism-based stress (i.e., rejection, non-affirmation, internalized transphobia) and SI (i.e., frequency, severity). We used cross-sectional data from an online study of bi+ adults. The analytic sample consisted of 205 TGD individuals (M _age = 26.59, SD = 7.37, Range = 18 - 49); 39.0% identified as White, 24.9% Latine, 8.8% Black, 20.0% Multiracial, and 7.3% other racial identities. cissexism-based stress (rejection, non-affirmation, internalized transphobia), resilience factors (self-affirmation, support), and mental health (SI frequency, SI severity) were assessed. Self-affirmation moderated the association between rejection and SI. At mean and high levels, but not low levels of self-affirmation, rejection was significantly related to higher frequency and severity of SI. No other associations between cissexism-based stress and SI were moderated by resilience factors. Higher rates of non-affirmation, internalized transphobia, and self-affirmation were associated with a higher frequency of SI. Although TGD identity-related support does not buffer the effects of cissexism-based stress, self-affirmation may be important to consider when addressing SI among bi+ TGD people. Findings suggest that self-affirmation may be associated with other factors that make TGD people more likely to encounter cissexism-based stressors, and thus more vulnerable to SI.

As part of a larger study on minority stress with transgender and gender diverse (TGD) participants, this daily diary study explored associations between daily marginalization and gender non-affirmation with alcohol and cannabis use, as well as general and TGD-specific coping motives for use. We examined the mediating effects of general (e.g., rumination) and identity-specific (e.g., internalized stigma) processes that may help explain how stigma impacts alcohol or cannabis use. There were 167 participants (M age = 25.4; 82.2% White), including trans men (49.1%), trans women (18.6%), genderqueer (10.2%), and nonbinary participants (22.2%). Participants completed 56 consecutive daily surveys reflecting on their alcohol and cannabis use, reasons for use, and related variables. Reporting more daily marginalization and gender non-affirmation was associated with an increased likelihood of endorsing both general and TGD-specific motives for use on the same day. Higher levels of gender non-affirmation were associated with an increased likelihood of drinking on the same day. There were no significant prospective associations with alcohol or cannabis use related variables. At the between-person level, TGD people who experienced higher levels of daily marginalization also reported an increased likelihood of using cannabis and consumed more alcohol on average. In concurrent analyses, the association between daily marginalization and gender non-affirmation with general or TGD-specific coping motives was partially explained by increases in internalized stigma, rumination, and isolation. Future research is needed to identify other intervening variables that may help to explain these associations.

We compared religious development from early adolescence to middle adulthood between sexual orientations. Data were from Waves I-V of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) restricted data sets using participants from the self-weighting core sample who had complete data for predictors and covariates (N=10,879 at Wave I; ages 12-21). Time-varying effect modeling examined changes in religious affiliation (any affiliation vs no affiliation), importance, attendance, and prayer across ages 12 to 41 as a function of sexual orientation in adulthood (heterosexual, 86.1%; mostly heterosexual, 9.6%; bisexual, 1.6%; mostly gay/lesbian, 0.9%; gay/lesbian, 1.4%; and asexual, 0.5%). For the heterosexual group, levels of religious affiliation and attendance were highest at age 12 and decreased until age 20 and then stabilized. Importance and prayer remained relatively stable across time. Affiliation, attendance, importance, and prayer were generally significantly lower in the mostly heterosexual, bisexual, and mostly gay/lesbian groups compared to the heterosexual group. Affiliation did not significantly differ from heterosexual individuals at most ages for the gay/lesbian and asexual groups. Attendance and importance were significantly lower for the gay/lesbian group in middle adulthood and significantly lower for the asexual group in adolescence. Prayer was also significantly lower in middle adulthood for the mostly gay/lesbian group and in adolescence for the asexual group. Prayer was significantly higher in adolescence for the gay/lesbian group. Religiosity changes over development and varies by sexual orientation, particularly between those who are heterosexual and who have sexual orientations that are non-monosexual.

Emerging research on sexual and gender diverse youth (SGDY) with disabilities (e.g., developmental or learning disabilities, physical disabilities) has begun to document the social- and health-related disparities that this population faces due to holding multiple marginalized identities. However, not all SGDY know their disability status, and those who are not aware of their disability status represent a unique group who might differently experience mental health challenges. Thus, the current exploratory study examined mental health differences among youth with diverse sexual and gender identities (n = 10,505) across three disability statuses: youth with disabilities, without disabilities, and those who did not know their disability status. Compared to SGDY with and without disabilities, SGDY who did not know their disability status were younger, less able to cope with stress, and less likely to identify as asexual. When considering anxiety and depressive symptoms, SGDY who did not know their disability status reported similar levels of anxiety/depression as their counterparts who reported having a disability, though effect sizes were very small. These exploratory findings have implications for how we measure and understand the experiences of SGDY who are not aware of their disability status; stakeholders should consider continuing to work to remove barriers that may thwart SGDY's ability to be diagnosed and offered support for disabilities.

Leveraging a novel experimental heterosexism mood induction paradigm, this study tested the effects of vicarious exposure to heterosexism on internalized heterosexism-based processes (i.e., internalized heterosexism, heterosexism-specific rejection sensitivity, and sexual orientation rumination) among a sample of sexual minority young adults. Participants were 101 sexual minority young adults, ages 20-35 (M = 26.46 years old; SD = 3.49), who engaged in recent heavy drinking and were recruited from the community (51.5% female sex assigned at birth; 76.3% cisgender; 51.5% plurisexual; and 42.6% racial and ethnic minorities). They completed three experimental mood induction trials counterbalanced over three laboratory visits on different days: heterosexism stress, general stress, and neutral. Results indicated that the heterosexism stress condition produced more internalized heterosexism, heterosexism-specific rejection sensitivity, and sexual orientation rumination than the general stress and neutral conditions, while controlling for demographic variables and exposure to structural heterosexism during adolescence. These effects were small to medium in their magnitude. Moreover, exploratory analyses indicated that these effects were somewhat larger among participants who resided in states with high structural heterosexism during adolescence. As further specificity, we documented no statistically significant differences between the general stress and neutral conditions. This study provides the first experimental evidence that vicarious exposure to heterosexism elicits internalized heterosexism-specific processes among sexual minority young adults. These novel findings extend and have implications for heterosexism-based stress and stigma models.