Minority stress model meyer

Federal government websites often end in.

Federal government websites often end in. The site is secure. In this article the author reviews research evidence on the prevalence of mental disorders in lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals LGBs and shows, using meta-analyses, that LGBs have a higher prevalence of mental disorders than heterosexuals. The author offers a conceptual framework for understanding this excess in prevalence of disorder in terms of minority stress —explaining that stigma, prejudice, and discrimination create a hostile and stressful social environment that causes mental health problems. The model describes stress processes, including the experience of prejudice events, expectations of rejection, hiding and concealing, internalized homophobia, and ameliorative coping processes.

Minority stress model meyer

Minority stress describes high levels of stress faced by members of stigmatized minority groups. Over the past three decades, social scientists have found that minority individuals suffer from mental and physical health disparities compared to their peers in majority groups. This research has focused primarily on racial and sexual minorities. For example, Black Americans have been found to suffer elevated rates of hypertension compared to whites. One causal explanation for minority health disparities is the social selection hypothesis, which holds that there is something inherent to being in a minority group e. Instead, research suggests that environmental factors explain minority health disparities better than do genetic factors. A second hypothesis regarding the causes of minority health disparities suggests that minority group members face difficult social situations that lead to poor health. Minority stress theory extends the social causation hypothesis by suggesting that social situations do not lead directly to poor health for minority individuals, but that difficult social situations cause stress for minority individuals, which accrues over time, resulting in long-term health deficits. When being applied to sexual and gender minorities, the term minority stress first appeared in the book Minority Stress in Lesbian Women by Virginia Rae Brooks, later known as Winn Kelly Brooks. Minority Stress Theory, as it is currently referenced, was coined by Illan Meyer in his research study " Minority stress and mental health in gay men. Meyer's version of minority stress theory distinguishes between distal and proximal stress processes. Proximal stress processes are internal, and are often the byproduct of distal stressors; they include concealment of one's minority identity, vigilance and anxiety about prejudice, and negative feelings about one's own minority group. Together, distal and proximal stressors accrue over time, leading to chronically high levels of stress that cause poor health outcomes.

Innovations in psychotherapy with homosexuals. The impact of victimization on the mental health and suicidality of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. The hidden costs of stigma.

.

Minority stress refers to a conceptual model that describes stressors embedded in the social position of sexual minority individuals as causes of health-related conditions, such as mental disorders, psychological distress, physical disorders, health behaviors e. The minority stress model suggests that because of stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people experience more stress than do heterosexuals and that this stress can lead to mental and physical disorders. This chapter begins with a brief overview of the minority stress model. It then discusses the domains of health and well-being that are affected by minority stressors, including mental health, physical health, health behaviors, and well-being. Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:. Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account. Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Enter your library card number to sign in.

Minority stress model meyer

Federal government websites often end in. The site is secure. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender LGBT older adults comprise a unique and growing subset of the aging population. The historical context in which they came of age was imbued with victimization and discrimination. These experiences are subjectively stressful and collectively known as minority stress. Older LGBT adults continue to face stressors related to their gender and sexual identities in their daily lives.

How to hack gleam io giveaways

In reviewing the literature I described minority stressors along a continuum from the objective prejudice events to the subjective internalized homophobia , but this presentation may have obscured important conceptual distinctions. The inclusion of only major classes of disorders allows for greater parsimony in interpreting the results than would be allowed by an examination of each individual disorder. Violence and victimization of lesbians and gay men: Mental health consequences. Minority stress theory was originally developed to explain associations between social situations, stress, and health for LGB individuals. American Journal of Public Health, 95, American Journal of Community Psychology. A psychological mediation framework. Additionally, attributions to prejudice were more psychologically costly for members of disadvantaged groups as they reminded group members of their disadvantaged status within society, resulting in lower self-worth and perceptions of control. International Journal of Epidemiology. For example, many studies used samples of youth recruited from social service organizations, who may be more vulnerable than the general population of LGB youth to mental health problems Muehrer, Author manuscript; available in PMC Nov 9. PMID Connection to LGBT community played a stronger role in mediating the relationship between stigma and stress for White sexual minority men. Thus, it is possible that distancing themselves from the LGBT community is a way in which White sexual minority men perceive control over their experiences in response to stigma.

.

Read Edit View history. Closed doors, opportunities lost: The continuing costs of housing discrimination. From a social contextual perspective, these differences may be the result of different community affiliations between White and sexual minority men of color. The stress model can point to both distal and proximal causes of distress and to directing relevant interventions at both the individual and structural levels. This is because none of these studies was a priori designed to assess mental health of LGB groups; as a result, they were not sophisticated in the measurement of sexual orientation. Why genes don't count for racial differences in health. This is clearly not the case with regard to population surveys of LGB individuals and the mental health outcomes as defined here—the studies I rely on are few and large. In reviewing the data I consider classes of mental disorders that are commonly discussed in the psychiatric epidemiology literature Kessler et al. We also focused on perceived stress as an outcome rather than mental health symptoms e. It is important to note, however, that these omitted elements—including advantages and disadvantages in the wider environment, personal predispositions, biological background, ongoing situations, and appraisal and coping—are integral parts of the stress model and are essential for a comprehensive understanding of the stress process Dohrenwend, b , In: Goldberger L, Breznitz S, editors. Disclosure of sexual orientation, victimization, and mental health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual older adults. Elizabeth A.