TY - JOUR
T1 - Minority stress, perceived burdensomeness, and depressive symptoms among sexual minority youth
AU - Baams, Laura
AU - Dubas, Judith Semon
AU - Russell, Stephen T.
AU - Buikema, Rosemarie L.
AU - van Aken, Marcel A.G.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by Dynamics of Youth (DoY) . DoY is one of the four strategic themes of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, in which all seven faculties participate. DoY supports and funds multidisciplinary research projects to investigate the biological and social-cultural factors that influence the development of children ( www.uu.nl/dynamicsofyouth ). This manuscript reflects the views of the authors and may not reflect the opinions or views of DoY. This research was also supported by grant 5 R24 HD042849 , awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The authors acknowledge generous support from the Communities for Just Schools Fund, and support for Russell from the Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment at the University of Texas at Austin.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents
PY - 2018/7
Y1 - 2018/7
N2 - Although studies have shown links between minority stress and mental health (e.g., Meyer, 2003), there is little research explaining this association. Research has suggested that adequate coping skills might protect youth from the negative impact of stress (Compas et al., 2017). Thus, we aimed to examine: 1) whether associations between minority stress and depressive symptoms occurred through mechanisms of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, and 2) whether these associations were dependent on level of problem-solving coping (moderated mediation). Using an online survey of 267 sexual minority youth from the Netherlands (16–22 years; 28.8% male), the results show an indirect relationship of sexual orientation victimization and internalized homophobia with depressive symptoms occurring through perceived burdensomeness; for both males and females. Problem-solving coping skills did not significantly moderate the aforementioned indirect relationships. These results have implications for prevention and intervention work that currently focuses on social isolation rather than perceived burdensomeness.
AB - Although studies have shown links between minority stress and mental health (e.g., Meyer, 2003), there is little research explaining this association. Research has suggested that adequate coping skills might protect youth from the negative impact of stress (Compas et al., 2017). Thus, we aimed to examine: 1) whether associations between minority stress and depressive symptoms occurred through mechanisms of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, and 2) whether these associations were dependent on level of problem-solving coping (moderated mediation). Using an online survey of 267 sexual minority youth from the Netherlands (16–22 years; 28.8% male), the results show an indirect relationship of sexual orientation victimization and internalized homophobia with depressive symptoms occurring through perceived burdensomeness; for both males and females. Problem-solving coping skills did not significantly moderate the aforementioned indirect relationships. These results have implications for prevention and intervention work that currently focuses on social isolation rather than perceived burdensomeness.
KW - Coping
KW - Depressive symptoms
KW - Interpersonal-psychological theory
KW - Minority stress
KW - Sexual minority youth
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U2 - 10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.03.015
DO - 10.1016/j.adolescence.2018.03.015
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85046171737
VL - 66
SP - 9
EP - 18
JO - Journal of Adolescence
JF - Journal of Adolescence
SN - 0140-1971
ER -