Social change and relationship quality among sexual minority individuals: Does minority stress still matter?

Objective: This study examined whether positive changes in social attitudes and policies surrounding sexual minority relationships have translated to diminished deleterious effects of minority stress on relationship quality.

Background: Sexual minority emerging adults now come of age at a time of greater equality and acceptance than previous generations. Research has demonstrated consistent negative effects of stigma-theorized as minority stress-on relationship quality for sexual minority individuals.

Healthcare Stereotype Threat and Health Outcomes Among LGB Individuals.

Background/purpose: Health disparities between sexual minorities and heterosexuals are well documented and have been explained by differential access to healthcare as well as exposure to discrimination. The current research examines the role that healthcare stereotype threat, or the fear of being judged by healthcare providers based on negative group stereotypes, plays in the health of LGB individuals.

Methods: LGB individuals (N = 1507) in three age cohorts were recruited via random digit dialing to participate in a larger study on sexual minority health.

Utilization of LGBT-Specific clinics and providers across three cohorts of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in the United States.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people navigate issues of stigma, discrimination, structural barriers, and a history of medical mistrust when seeking healthcare services. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-specific clinics and providers offer alternative spaces where these issues may be avoided, but limited research is available on how LGB people utilize these resources. The current study analyzes data from a nationally-representative survey of 1534 LGB people across three age cohorts.

The Role of Social Support and Gay Identity in the Stress Processes of a Sample of Caucasian Gay Men.

Though research has demonstrated that gay men suffer stress-related mental health disparities compared to heterosexuals, little is known about factors that protect gay individuals from poor mental health and that buffer them in the face of minority stress. Using a daily diary approach, the current study examined three factors that may protect individuals from poor mental health: social support from friends, social support from family, and gay identity. Caucasian gay men (N = 89) completed a study purported to examine the everyday life experiences of gay individuals.

Healthcare Stereotype Threat in Older Adults in the Health and Retirement Study.

Introduction: Healthcare stereotype threat is the threat of being personally reduced to group stereotypes that commonly operate within the healthcare domain, including stereotypes regarding unhealthy lifestyles and inferior intelligence. The objective of this study was to assess the extent to which people fear being judged in healthcare contexts on several characteristics, including race/ethnicity and age, and to test predictions that experience of such threats would be connected with poorer health and negative perceptions of health care.

Methods: Data were collected as part of the 2012 Health and Retirement Study (HRS).

Stereotype threat among black and white women in health care settings.

The first of its kind, the present experiment applied stereotype threat-the threat of being judged by or confirming negative group-based stereotypes-to the health sciences. Black and White women (N = 162) engaged in a virtual health care situation. In the experimental condition, one's ethnic identity and negative stereotypes of Black women specifically were made salient.

Testing a model of minority identity achievement, identity affirmation, and psychological well-being among ethnic minority and sexual minority individuals.

How is social identity related to psychological well-being among minority individuals? Drawing on developmental models of identity formation (e.g., Erikson, 1968) and on Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), we tested a conceptual model examining links between two key aspects of social identity and psychological well-being.

The close relationships of Lesbians and gay men.

This article reviews empirical studies of same-sex couples in the United States, highlighting consistent findings, drawing comparisons to heterosexual couples, and noting gaps in available research. U.S.