Greater lifetime stressor exposure is associated with poorer mental health among sexual minority people of color

Luis A Parra; Chandler M Spahr; Jeremy T Goldbach; Bethany C Bray; Michele D Kipke; George M Slavich

doi:10.1002/jclp.23463

Greater lifetime stressor exposure is associated with poorer mental health among sexual minority people of color

J Clin Psychol. 2023 Apr;79(4):1130-1155. doi: 10.1002/jclp.23463. Epub 2022 Dec 2.

Authors

Luis A Parra¹, Chandler M Spahr², Jeremy T Goldbach¹, Bethany C Bray³, Michele D Kipke^{4

5}, George M Slavich⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Systems, Populations, and Leadership, School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
² Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA.
³ Institute for Health Research and Policy, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁵ Departments of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Abstract

Background: Research has shown that sexual minority people of color experience pervasive and sometimes severe life stressors that increase their risk of experiencing mental health problems, and that can contribute to lifelong health disparities. However, no studies in this population have investigated stressor exposure occurring over the entire lifespan. Moreover, it remains unknown whether these stressor-health effects differ based on the timing or types of stressors experienced.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how cumulative lifetime stressor exposure is associated with mental health among Black, Latinx, and biracial Black-Latinx sexual minority persons.

Method: Participants were 285 ethnic/racial minority young adults (M_age = 25.18 years old, SD = 1.94, age range = 19-29 years), who completed the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adults to assess for retrospective reports of lifetime stressor count and severity. The Brief Symptom Inventory was used to assess participants' symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatization, which were the main outcomes. Most participants identified as cisgender male (94.7%) and gay (74.2%), with the remaining participants identifying as transgender or genderqueer/nonbinary for gender and bisexual/pansexual, queer, or another sexual orientation.

Results: Multiple regression analyses indicated that experiencing more-and more severe-stressors across the lifespan was related to greater anxiety, depressive, and somatization symptoms. These effects were robust while controlling for race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, and employment status, and they differed based on stressor exposure timing, type, primary life domain, and core social-psychological characteristic.

Conclusion: Greater cumulative lifetime stressor exposure is related to poorer mental health among sexual minority people of color. Screening for lifetime stressors may thus help identify at-risk persons and provide an opportunity to intervene to help mitigate or prevent mental health disparities in multiply stigmatized adults.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; health disparities; life stress; minority health; somatization.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Adult
Female
Humans
Male
Mental Health*
Retrospective Studies
Sexual Behavior / psychology
Sexual and Gender Minorities*
Skin Pigmentation
Stress, Psychological / psychology
Young Adult

Grants and funding

U01 DA036926/DA/NIDA NIH HHS/United States