Minority Stress, Depression, and Disclosure Among Sexual and Gender Diverse Adolescents: A Latent Class Analysis

• In Event: Understanding and Mitigating the Effects of Discrimination During Adolescence

Abstract

Background

Sexual and gender diverse youth (SGDY) disclose their sexual orientation to a variety of people (e.g., friends and family) during adolescence. SGDY are not always out to every group and can vary considerably with regard to who knows about their sexual orientation (Caba et al, 2022). Contemporary studies show that variability in outness to different people corresponds with meaningful differences in experiences of minority stressors and health outcomes (Caba et al, 2022). Although SGDY who have disclosed their sexual identity report better mental health, they also report greater victimization (Pachankis et al., 2015). However, few studies have examined if the variability of SGDY disclosure shifts the association between minority stressors and mental health. The current study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to assess if membership in classes of disclosure to different groups moderates the association between minority stressors and depressive symptoms among adolescent SGDY.

Method
Data for this study were drawn from the LGBTQ National Teen Survey, which was conducted in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign in 2017. Eligible participants were English-speaking, identified as LGBTQ+, between 13-17 years of age, and lived in the U.S. A parental waiver of consent was obtained, and data were collected anonymously online through Qualtrics. For this study, the final sample of 8,884 includes youth who provided complete data for questions about outness and a set of demographic covariates.

SGDY’s outness to parents, siblings, LGBTQ friends, non-LGBTQ friends, classmates, and teachers was assessed with response options ranging from none (0) to all (4). A six-class model was determined to provide the best model and theoretical fit in a previous study (Caba et al., 2022). The six classes were (1) Out to siblings and LGBTQ+ peers, (2) Out to LGBTQ+ peers, (3) Out to siblings and peers, (4) Out to all but teachers, (5) Mostly not out, and (6) Very much not out.
Depression was measured using a modified version of the 11-item Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (Brooks et al., 2003).

Minority stressors included lifetime LGBT victimization (D’Augelli et al., 2008) and internalized homophobia (Herek et al (2009).

Analysis Plan

The manual 3-step method (Asparouhov and Muthén, 2013) was used to test if the associations between minority stressors and depression were moderated by disclosure classes. A chi-square difference test indicated that the unconstrained multiple group model provided a better fit to the data than the constrained model (p=0.01). We tested partial constraints to assess moderation.

Results

Across all six groups, internalized homophobia and LGBT victimization were associated with higher depression symptoms. However, the disclosure classes did not moderate the associations.

Discussion

Although previous research finds important differences in minority stressors and mental health between SGDY who have or have not disclosed their sexual orientation, we find that the variability in disclosure does not moderate the negative association between minority stressors and depression. Across all groups, minority stressors compromised mental health, highlighting the importance of mitigating these stressors to support SGDY across disclosure statuses. Regardless of disclosure status, minority stressors undermine the well-being of SGDY.

Authors

• Allen Mallory, Ohio State University
  Presenting Author

• Antonia Caba

• Ryan J Watson