Beyond Happiness: Minority Stress and Life Meaning Among LGB Individuals
Abstract
Scholars have recently started to examine how minority stressors are associated with wellbeing outcomes among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people. Such studies have examined mainly hedonic wellbeing, and those that have investigated eudaimonic wellbeing have tended to use composite measures. The present study draws from this literature to examine how minority stressors are associated with a key indicator of eudaimonic wellbeing: life meaning. Drawing from the minority stress model, we examined these associations using structural equation modeling among 266 LGB adults. Expectations of rejection and identity concealment, but not discrimination or internalized homophobia, had significant negative associations with life meaning. Discrimination had negative indirect associations with life meaning via expectations of rejection and concealment. Our results highlight the nuanced relations that exist between minority stressors and life meaning and highlight the need to move beyond composite measures of wellbeing. Implications for clinical practice and directions for research are discussed.
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Proximal stressors arise from a socialization process in which sexual and gender minority people learn to reject themselves (internalized stigma), develop expectations of rejection, and/or conceal their LGBT identity.
“Proximal stressors arise from a socialization process in which sexual and gender minority people learn to reject themselves for being LGBT (internalized stigma) [12,13], develop expectations to be stigmatized due to awareness of prevailing social stigma (expectations of rejection) [14], and/or hide their LGBT identity as a way to protect themselves against distal minority stressors (identity Conce”
From Minority stress theory: Application, critique, and continued relevance (2023) · cites this paper as [14]
Cites
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Hatzenbuehler, M. L. (2009) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0016441 · Cited by 2,695 · see citing works
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Chandler, J., & Shapiro, D. (2016) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093623 · Cited by 1,072 · see citing works
A convenient solution: Using MTurk to sample from hard-to-reach populations
Smith, N. A., Sabat, I. E., Martinez, L. R., Weaver, K., & Xu, S. (2015) · Industrial and Organizational Psychology · doi:10.1017/iop.2015.29 · Cited by 190 · see citing works
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Minority stress theory: Application, critique, and continued relevance
Frost, D. M., & Meyer, I. H. (2023) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2023.101579 · Cited by 957 · see citing works
“rejection) [14], and/or hide their LGBT identity as a way to protect themselves against distal minority stressors (identity concealment) [15].”
Background
- Authors
- Douglass, R. P., Conlin, S. E., & Duffy, R. D.
- Affiliations
- University of Florida (US)
- Corresponding author
- Douglass, Richard P.
- Venue
- Journal of Homosexuality
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-04-21
- Volume
- 67
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1587-1602
- ISSN
- 0091-8369 (ISSN-L)
- 1540-3602
- OpenAlex
- W2939357551
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 2.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Homosexuality (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- minority stress, meaning of life, eudaimonic well-being, identity concealment, discrimination, internalized homophobia, hedonic well-being, minority stress model
- MeSH terms
- Sexual and Gender Minorities, Adolescent, Adult, Bisexuality, Defense Mechanisms, Female, Happiness, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Minority Groups, Stress, Psychological, Homosexuality, Female, Young Adult, Homophobia
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