3-091 - Methodological Advances in Sexual Minority Youth Research: Developmental and Longitudinal Findings

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Much of the work on sexual minority adolescents and young adults is based on notions from the minority stress framework (Meyer, 2003), which posits that chronic and unique stressors create “minority stress” for sexual minorities, which over time develops into mental health problems and risk behavior, such as depression, suicidality, and substance use. Conclusions about the associations between minority stress and mental health are often based on findings from cross-sectional studies, which does not allow us to examine temporal processes or vulnerable stages of adolescence (Mustanski, 2015). The current symposium presents four studies, all addressing associations between minority stress and mental health with a developmental lens. The first paper presents a study on age-specific disparities in homophobic bullying and associations with depressive symptoms among adolescents. The findings show age-specific patterns, in which the associations between homophobic bullying and depressive symptoms is found to strengthen with age. Paper 2 utilizes a unique longitudinal dataset of sexual minority youth of color, showing that when these youth experience racial discrimination and sexual orientation victimization they have higher suicidal ideation levels nine months later. Paper 3 presents a daily diary study, showing that expecting rejection of one’s sexual orientation and sexual orientation victimization was associated with higher negative affect on a daily basis. Last, Paper 4 presents a systematic review of the literature on longitudinal trajectories of mental health and substance use, showing that sexual minority youth experience stronger increases in mental health and substance use in the transition from adolescence into young adulthood.

Sub Unit

• Sex, Gender

Chair

• Laura Baams, University of Groningen

Individual Presentations

• Age Trends in Sexual-Orientation-Related Disparities in Homophobic Bullying and its Association With Depressive Symptoms - Presenting Author: Jessica N. Fish, University of Maryland College Park; Non-Presenting Author: Stephen T. Russell, University of Texas at Austin

• Victimization and Racial Discrimination and Associations with Suicidal Ideation for Sexual Minority Youth of Color - Presenting Author: Allen Mallory, University of Texas at Austin; Non-Presenting Author: Stephen T. Russell, University of Texas at Austin

• Associations Between Minority Stress and Daily Negative Affect: A Week in Sexual Minority Youth’s Lives - Presenting Author: Laura Baams, University of Groningen

• Developmental Trajectories of Substance Use and Mental Health for Sexual Minority Youth: A Systematic Review - Presenting Author: Hidde Ozinga, University of Groningen; Non-Presenting Author: Laura Baams, University of Groningen; Non-Presenting Author: Tina Kretschmer, University of Groningen