Abstract
Though sexual minority adolescents face a wide array of deleterious stressors, few studies have examined the role of specific types of stress exposure (i.e., chronic vs. episodic, interpersonal vs. non-interpersonal) on mental health disparities. This study utilizes a contextual threat-based assessment to (a) compare levels of stress exposure types between sexual minority and non-sexual minority adolescents, and (b) examine stress type as a mediator between sexual orientation and two outcomes: depressive symptoms and emotion dysregulation. Data comes from a longitudinal sample (14–17 years-old, N = 241; 17.6% sexual minority; 54% assigned female at birth; 73.9% White), with two time-points (T1 and T2) utilized. Sexual minority adolescents reported higher chronic interpersonal stress, but no differences in non-interpersonal chronic or episodic stress, relative to non-sexual minority adolescents. Chronic interpersonal stress exposure mediated the link between membership in an oppressed group (i.e., sexual minority teens) and the primary outcomes (emotion dysregulation and depressive symptoms) at both T1 and T2. Findings demonstrate the utility of contextual threat-based assessments within sexual minority research.
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Notes
All participants who selected “other” also identified as sexual minorities. Given that this study provided only a limited assessment of gender (with only “Male,” “Female,” and “Other” items provided), this study’s ability to capture the full complexities of gender was restricted. We therefore limited our examination to the dimension of sexual orientation.
Youth who endorsed “I’m not sure” were included as sexual minority youth given that questioning youth experience minority stress, as they experience being uncertain about an identity in a society in which heterosexuality is considered the norm. Research indeed supports the claim that questioning youth are exposed to minority stress (e.g., bullying, sexual harassment, interpersonal violence) (Diamond & Butterworth, 2008; Shearer et al., 2016; Williams et al., 2003), and may even report more negative perceptions of their school environments compared to LGB and heterosexual youth (Espelage et al., 2008). Previous studies have also historically included questioning youth in discussions of marginalized sexual identities (Birkett et al., 2009; Collier et al., 2013; Garg & Volerman, 2021; Proulx et al., 2019).
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Acknowledgements
We thank our colleagues Fanny Mlawer, Y. Irina Li, Zoey Shaw, Meghan Huang, and Angela Santee for their work collecting the SEED study data. We also thank our research assistants Eli Nikiforova, Sailor Ledek, and Elizabeth Zhang for consulting on our research. Finally, we thank the SEED study participants for their participation in our research.
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Funding was provided by the University of Rochester. Stipend support was provided by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
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Chang, K., Rogge, R. & Starr, L. Characterizing Life Stress Exposure Among Sexual Minority Adolescents: Temporality, Content, And Mediating Role in Mental Health Disparities. Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol 52, 851–863 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-023-01165-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-023-01165-7