Year of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Clinical Psychology

Department or School/College

Psychology

Committee Chair

Bryan Cochran

Commitee Members

Hillary Powell, Elizabeth Hubble

Keywords

Minority stress, LGBTQ, Resilience, Community

Subject Categories

Clinical Psychology

Abstract

Gender and sexual minority (GSM) individuals face a variety of health disparities, including increased rates of depression, anxiety, and substance use. One explanation for the presence of these health disparities is the minority stress model, which suggests that proximal (internal) and distal (external) experiences of minority stressors contribute to poorer health outcomes in GSM populations. An important yet understudied component of this model is resilience, which acts as buffer against the negative impacts of minority stressors. Focus on community resilience factors, as opposed to individual resilience factors, may be particularly important in GSM populations in reducing the onus placed on individuals to independently manage the impact of marginalization by society. Community resilience factors for GSM individuals can include social support, community connectedness, participation in activism, gender affirmation, positive representation, and being a role model. However, no research has examined the effects of these community resilience factors simultaneously or tested the role of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) identity and age in determining which factors are the most impactful.

In this project, 420 GSM individuals recruited from Instagram and Facebook completed a self-report, cross-sectional survey. Results from this study indicate that, analyzed together, community resilience factors are significantly predictive of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress in GSM individuals. Within this sample, TGD individuals reported poorer mental health outcomes than their cisgender SM peers. Consistent with previous research, lower levels of perceived family support and gender affirmation are associated with poorer mental health. These results also support the association between lower levels of perceived significant other support and media representation in childhood with poorer mental health outcomes. The role of age on these outcomes remains inconclusive due to limited age diversity in the sample. No tested regression model significantly predicted alcohol use, though lower levels of community connectedness were associated with greater alcohol use. These findings support the importance of community resilience factors in targeting health disparities in GSM populations and have implications for the actions families, schools, activists, and healthcare providers may take to support GSM individuals.

Share

COinS
 

© Copyright 2025 Benny Ilac