Category: LGBQT+
John (Kai) Kellerman, M.S.
Rutgers University
Highland Park, New Jersey
Brian Feinstein, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
Associate Professor
Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science
N. Chicago, Illinois
John (Kai) Kellerman, M.S.
Rutgers University
Highland Park, New Jersey
Christina Dyar, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Paddy Loftus, PhD
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida
Ethan Mereish, PhD
Associate Professor
American University
Washington, District of Columbia
Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals are at elevated risk for a variety of mental health issues compared to their cisgender, heterosexual counterparts. The minority stress theory, which posits that individuals from minoritized groups are exposed to unique, identity-related stressors that in turn contribute to increased rates of psychopathology, is a leading model for explaining these disparities (Brooks, 1981; Meyer, 2003). A wealth of recent research has demonstrated that mental health variables associated with minority stress (e.g., suicidal ideation, depressed mood, substance use urges) are prone to wide fluctuations over short periods of hours and days (Gromatsky et al., 2020; Kleiman et al., 2017). However, little research has specifically examined how real-time experiences of minority stress may contribute to escalations in mental health issues. The present symposium focuses on the real-time mental health impact of exposure to identity-related stressors among SGM individuals and aims to highlight modifiable risk and resilience factors that mediate the temporal relationship between minority stress and mental health outcomes. First, Presenter 1 will describe findings from an ecological momentary assessment study that daily perceived social support and negative affect mediate the relationship between sexual/gender minority identity disclosure (i.e., “outness) and short-term fluctuations in suicidal ideation. Presenter 2 will present ecological momentary assessment data on how daily experiences of identity-related stigma increase the use of cannibis to cope with stress, which in turn predicts cannibis consequences among a large sample of sexual minority women and gender diverse individuals. Presenter 3 will then discuss findings on how identity-related discrimination and daily depression symptoms predict short-term fluctuations in identity uncertainty among bisexual, pansexual, and queer (bi+) individuals. Finally, Presenter 4 will present daily diary research on the mediating effects of daily negative affect and emotion dysregulation on the associations between daily minority stressors and suicidal ideation and nonsuicidal self-injury among a sample of sexual and gender minority youth. The four presentations will be summarized and discussed by a leading expert in SGM mental health disparities. The discussant’s experience using daily diary and experience sampling methods to examine short-term fluctuations in mental health outcomes position him to provide insightful commentary on the presented research. This discussion will address the importance of studying the immediate, day-to-day mental health impact of minority stressors and will elaborate on opportunities to intervene upon the modifiable risk factors identified in the presented research. Presenter: John (Kai) Kellerman, M.S. – Rutgers University Co-author: Rebecca cipollina, M.S. – Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Co-author: Evan M. Kleiman, PhD – Rutgers, The State university of new jersey Presenter: Christina Dyar, Ph.D. – The Ohio State University Co-author: Debra Kaysen, ABPP, Ph.D. – Stanford University Co-author: Michael Newcomb, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Northwestern University Co-author: Brian Mustanski, Ph.D. – Northwestern University Presenter: Paddy Loftus, PhD – University of South Florida Co-author: Fallon R. Goodman, Ph.D. – University of South Florida Co-author: Christina Dyar, Ph.D. – The Ohio State University Co-author: Joanne Davila, Ph.D. – Stony Brook University Co-author: Brian Feinstein, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science Presenter: Ethan H. Mereish, PhD – American University Co-author: Jessica R. Peters, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Brown University Co-author: Leslie Brick, Ph.D. – Alpert Medical School of Brown University Co-author: Matthew Killam, PhD – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Co-author: Shirley Yen, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Harvard Medical SchoolLearning Objectives:
Presentations: