Psychology
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2270
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Item LGBTQ Community Belonging and Involvement as Predictors of Sexual Minorities' Well-Being(2021) Burrows, Michael; Mohr, Jonathan J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Sexual minorities (SM; i.e., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and asexual+) experience high rates of discrimination and stigma, which account for mental health disparities based on sexual orientation (Cochran, 2001; Meyer, 2003). A growing body of research suggests that LGBTQ community may be a source of resilience. This thesis examines two ways that SM can interact with and experience LGBTQ community: LGBTQ community belonging (a subjective sense of belonging or being a part of LGBTQ community; Frost & Meyer, 2012; Puckett et al., 2015) and community involvement (engagement in LGBTQ nightlife, social clubs, politics, and community sports; Foster-Gimbel et al., 2020).Across two time points over an approximately 6.5 week period, 171 SM completed surveys assessing LGBTQ community belonging and community involvement, psychological well-being (depression, anxiety, loneliness, positive affect, and satisfaction with life), perceived social support, and internalized stigma. Analyses focused on (a) relations between community variables (belonging and involvement) and well-being over time, and (b) the potential mediating roles of social support and internalized stigma in these relations. Most hypothesized relations between community variables and future well-being did not emerge. However, results supported associations between community involvement and future satisfaction with life, even after controlling for LGBTQ community belonging. Results also suggested that specific types of community involvement related in unique ways to facets of well-being in the future. Results did not support any of the hypothesized mediated relationships.Item Daily Heterosexism Experiences and Well-Being among LGB People: The Moderating Role of Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and LGB-Affirmative Support(2020) Chong, Siu Kwan; Mohr, Jonathan J; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Research has shown that perceived discrimination, including heterosexism, is linked to poorer mental and physical health across a variety of stigmatized populations. Given the deleterious effect of discrimination on health, scholars have called attention to resilience research and the importance of understanding factors that can protect lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people from the adverse effect. To date, most research on LGB people’s resilience relied on retrospective reports of heterosexism experiences. This limits the understanding about resilience factors that help LGB people effectively cope with discrimination as it occurs on a day-to-day basis. The present study addressed this gap by using an experience sampling design to test whether internal resources (mindfulness, self-compassion) and external resources (LGB-affirmative social support) reduce the impact of daily heterosexism experience on affective and somatic well-being. A sample of 254 LGB adults completed a baseline survey that assessed resilience factors, as well as brief online surveys twice daily for 14 days that assessed heterosexism experiences and well-being, providing a total of 3,346 days of data. As anticipated, results of multilevel modeling showed that heterosexism experiences were positively related to negative affect and somatic symptoms both at the daily and person levels. Inconsistent with my hypotheses, mindfulness, self-compassion, and LGB affirmative support did not moderate the within-person associations between daily heterosexism experience and daily well-being. These factors also did not moderate the between-person association between mean heterosexism and health. They were, however, positively linked with affective well-being regardless of heterosexism experiences. These findings provide insights for practitioners to support LGB clients to thrive.