Health Disparities Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual People: The Role of Minority Stress and Psychological Sense of Community

<p>Research on sexual minority individuals has often examined health disparities between lesbian/gay/bisexual (LGB) people and heterosexual people through a Minority Stress lens. Much of this research has not examined how minority stress may impact LGB people differentially and how factors such as psychological sense of community (PSOC) might explain these differences. To address this gap in the literature and to understand LGB people’s health better, this research first examined whether sexual orientation moderates the relationship between minority stress and health outcomes. Next, this research examined whether PSOC moderates the impact of sexual orientation on the relationship between minority stress and health outcomes. Secondary data analyses were conducted across two studies to test a moderated moderation model to explore within group differences among LGB people in terms of their health outcomes. Study 1 consisted of a secondary analysis of data from Project Stride (2005), which collected data from 357 LGB people in New York City. Study 2 consisted of a secondary analysis of data from the most recent wave of the Generations Study (2018), which collected data from 535 LGB people. Both studies employed moderated moderation analyses using the SPSS PROCESS Macro for hypothesis testing. Consistent with previous research, Study 1 found that bisexual people reported worse minority stress than LG people and Study 2 found that bisexual people reported worse psychological distress than LG people. Both studies found that sexual orientation moderated the relationship between minority stress and health. However, LGB people did not differ in PSOC, and data did not support the moderated moderation model. Implications and future directions are discussed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Psychology, PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Restricted to Claremont Colleges Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

School of Social Science, Politics, and Evaluation

Year dc:date.available

2024

Author dc:creator

• Rajan-Sharma, Apoorva Orcid

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jason T. Siegel
• Eusebio M. Alvaro
• Christopher S. Lamb

• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/919

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarship.claremont.edu:cgu_etd-1943