Effects of Everyday Discrimination on Sexual Minority People's Experiences of Health Care Stereotype Threat

• In Event: 20820 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 12. Sexual and Gender Minority Health

Abstract

Despite advances in equality, sexual minority people report higher rates of experiencing discrimination across contexts than heterosexual people. These experiences are particularly concerning when they interfere with sexual minority people’s perceptions and experiences of health care services. Drawing from a national probability data set of sexual minority people – Generations – capturing the experiences of cisgender lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, we explore how experiences of discrimination outside of health care contexts are associated with perceptions of discrimination within health care via health care stereotype threat (HCST) and examine differences between sexual minority subgroups. Results suggest that everyday discrimination is positively related with HCST, net of its associations with stigma, psychological distress, and self-rated health. Additionally, we find an amplification effect for gay men, such that they translate everyday discrimination in to greater HCST compared to other subgroups. These findings have important implications for interventions targeting the discrimination sexual minority people face.

Authors

• Sarah Groh, Clemson University

• Ziding Shen, University of Georgia