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Minority stress and inflammatory mediators: covering moderates associations between perceived discrimination and salivary interleukin-6 in gay men

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Abstract

Physical health disparities by sexual orientation are widespread yet under-investigated. Drawing upon theories of biological embedding of social adversity, we tested whether minority stress (in the form of perceived discrimination) is associated with salivary interleukin-6 (IL-6), an inflammatory mediator. Furthermore, we examined whether covering, a strategy involving downplaying a stigmatized social identity, modified this association. A community sample (N = 99) of gay men (n = 78) and lesbian women (n = 21) completed self-report measures of minority stress and identity management and provided saliva samples which were assayed for IL-6. Among gay men, results from generalized linear models supported a hypothesized interaction between perceived discrimination and covering, such that perceived discrimination was predictive of higher levels of IL-6 for those who engaged in less covering but not for those who engaged in more covering. This interaction was robust to a number of potential covariates (alcohol, medication, body mass index, race and age). Results for lesbian women suggested a different pattern: the only statistically significant association detected was between greater perceived discrimination and lower levels of IL-6. Findings from the current study point to an important role for inflammatory processes in understanding and remediating health disparities based upon sexual orientation that stem from exposure to prejudice and discrimination.

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Acknowledgments

David Matthew Doyle is currently supported by training Grant T32MH13043 from the National Institute of Mental Health and Lisa Molix was supported by training Grant K12HD043451 (Tulane BIRCWH Program) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The authors wish to thank Jeffrey Brown, Catherine Drahota and Emily Shaffer for their assistance with data collection.

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  1. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 West 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    David Matthew Doyle

  2. Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Lisa Molix

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All procedures followed were in accordance with ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Doyle, D.M., Molix, L. Minority stress and inflammatory mediators: covering moderates associations between perceived discrimination and salivary interleukin-6 in gay men. J Behav Med 39, 782–792 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-016-9784-0

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