Discrimination, Concealment, & Multiple Minority Status within LGBTQ+ Populations

Abstract

The LGBTQ+ community is a diverse population composed of sub-groups of sexual and gender minorities with unique experiences. While this community faces discrimination and stigma across the globe, it remains an understudied population in psychological literature. These experiences of discrimination, as put forth by the Minority Stress Model (Meyer, 2003), lead to unique stressors experienced by this community. Because membership to the LGBTQ+ community is heavily reliant on identity-centered factors, many members of this community face forms of individual-level (perceived) and institutional-level (systemic) discrimination. Previous research shows that LGBTQ+ individuals who have faced forms of discrimination are more likely to have adverse physical and psychological health consequences and, often, they turn to coping mechanisms that can contribute to other sources of stress. The Minority Stress Model calls these proximal stressors, and they include acts such as concealment of one’s identity for protection and safety. Because concealment has been shown to have significant impacts on one’s physical and mental health, it’s important to understand the types of distal stressors that impact its utilization. Methods: A sample was obtained from Eastern Europe that consists of 2,296 self-identifying LGBTQ+ members. Using this vast, multicultural sample, various relationships were explored, including discrimination and concealment; discrimination and reporting acts of discrimination; multiple minority status and concealment; and the relationship between multiple minority status, concealment, and reporting acts of discrimination. Results: Statistical analyses revealed that those who had experienced institutional-level discrimination were more likely to engage in more frequent identity concealment. Furthermore, results showed that those who had experienced both individual-level and institutional-level discrimination engaged in more frequent identity concealment than those who did not experience both types of discrimination. Lastly, the study found that those who reported having multiple minority identities engaged in less frequent identity concealment. Discussion: Results support the idea that the frequency of identity concealment increases when institutional-level discrimination is experienced. More so, when both individual-level and institutional-level discrimination are experienced, the frequency of identity concealment is higher than those who experienced only one type of discrimination. Additionally, those who belong to multiple minority groups are less likely to conceal their identities than those that belong to only one minority group. No conclusive relationship was determined between discrimination and reporting. Furthermore, concealment did not moderate the relationship between multiple minority status and reporting acts of discrimination. Implications and suggestions for future research efforts are discussed, as well.