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Testing Models of Minority Stress and Cognitive Escape in a Large Sample of Lesbian/Gay Individuals
Title
Testing Models of Minority Stress and Cognitive Escape in a Large Sample of Lesbian/Gay Individuals
Creator
Manser, Kelly
Date
2020
Description
Compared to heterosexual individuals, gay/lesbian individuals experience health and sociopolitical disparities. Health disparities include...
Show moreCompared to heterosexual individuals, gay/lesbian individuals experience health and sociopolitical disparities. Health disparities include higher prevalence of binge drinking, tobacco use, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) among gay/lesbian individuals. Sociopolitical disparities are rooted in structural stigma and include policies and norms that fail to protect, or actively discriminate against, gay/lesbian individuals. These health and sociopolitical disparities can be understood by converging two theories previously tested among gay/lesbian individuals – minority stress and cognitive escape. Minority stress theory asserts factors such as structural stigma may relate to proximal stress and negative health sequelae in targeted minority groups, while cognitive escape theory suggests escape-related behaviors like substance use may mediate links between systemic factors and individual health. This study used binary logistic regressions to test mediation models in which substance use mediated links between structural stigma and health within a large sample of gay/lesbian individuals. Structural stigma was operationalized as number of sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws, health was operationalized as presence versus absence of any CVD conditions, and substance use was operationalized as binge drinking and tobacco use. Models were tested in an aggregated sample, and also in sex/gender subsamples. In bivariate and component-path analyses, structural stigma predicted smoking frequency across samples. Stigma-binge drinking linkages were more salient among lesbian women compared to gay men. According to Sobel tests, smoking status mediated the stigma-CVD status relation for males-only and combined-sex samples. Study strengths, limitations, and implications are discussed.
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Testing actor and partner mediation effects of the mindfulness-relationship satisfaction association in long-distance relationships
Title
Testing actor and partner mediation effects of the mindfulness-relationship satisfaction association in long-distance relationships
Creator
Manser, Kelly A.
Date
2023
Description
Long-distance romantic relationships (LDR) have become increasingly common as technology and sociocultural norms have evolved. Individuals in...
Show moreLong-distance romantic relationships (LDR) have become increasingly common as technology and sociocultural norms have evolved. Individuals in LDR, many of whom are post-secondary students, report LDR-specific experiences and stressors. Nonetheless, romantic relationship satisfaction (RS) nonetheless appears comparable between LDR and non-LDR relationships, although the underlying mechanisms are not well-understood. Mindfulness, which relates positively to RS and negatively to stress, is minimally studied in LDR. Moreover, despite empirical and theoretical support, few studies have tested stress as a mediator of associations between mindfulness and RS at the within-person level (termed actor effects) or between-person level (partner effects). This study tested a theoretically-grounded, empirically-supported Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model (APIMeM) in a sample (N = 150; 75 dyads) of post-secondary students and their LDR romantic partners. As hypothesized, an partner-actor indirect effect emerged of T1 actor mindfulness on T2 partner RS through decreased T2 partner stress. Unexpectedly, no direct, total, or indirect effects of T1 actor mindfulness on T2 actor stress or T2 actor RS emerged. Findings suggest that within- and between-person associations between mindfulness, stress, and RS may present uniquely in LDR, with implications for research, clinical practice, and policy.
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