Symposia
LGBQT+
Roberto Rentería, Ph.D.
Doctoral Candidate
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
Denver, Colorado
Cristalis Capielo Rosario, PhD
Assistant Professor
Arizona state University
Tempe, Arizona
Objective: Latinx sexual minority adults experiences diverse types of discrimination (i.e., heterosexism and ethnic/racial discrimination) which may contribute to worse physical health. Little research has examined how intersecting forms of discrimination (e.g., stigma within another marginalized community) may affect physical health. Minority stress theories suggest that greater experiences of discrimination are linked to heightened psychological distress which may then exacerbate physical symptoms. The present study tested the links between intersecting forms of discrimination and physical symptom severity among Latinx sexual minority adults, assessing psychological distress as a mediator.
Method: Participants (N = 369) identified as Latinx/Hispanic/Latino and as a sexual minority. Data were collected via a self-report web-based survey. Using structural equation modeling, this study tested two theory-informed structure equation models (SEM) proposing pathways between perceived general and within-group discrimination (i.e., Model 1 = racism and racism within LGBTQ+ community; Model 2 = heterosexism and heterosexism within ethnic/racial community), psychological distress (i.e., anxiety and depression), and physical symptom severity.
Results: Both structural models demonstrated good fit to the data. As hypothesized, heterosexist discrimination (β = .184, p = .007) and racist discrimination (β = .284, p = .001) significantly predicted higher physical symptom severity in their respective models. Depression symptoms significantly mediated the association between ethnic/racial discrimination and physical symptom severity (β = .189, p = .003). Similarly, greater frequency of heterosexism within one’s ethnic/racial community was indirectly related with worse physical symptoms severity via depression (β = .200, p = .002). No other indirect effects were significant.
Conclusion: Findings from this study support that Latinx sexual minority adults experience stigma-related distress outside and within their own cultural identity groups. Noteworthy, depressive symptoms appeared to mediate the effects of heterosexism in one’s ethnic/racial group on physical symptoms. These results highlight how overlapping forms of stigma have differential effects on health via psychological distress. These findings have important clinical and scientific implications in understanding how overlapping forms of discrimination affect health among Latinx sexual minority adults.