Minority Stress, Microaggressions, and Distress in the LGBTQ+ Community (2021)

Existing stress research within minority populations demonstrates stressors on a systemic level—called Minority Stress Theory (Meyer, 2003)—and more locally—called Microaggressions (Swann et al., 2016). To date, most research examining minority stress and microaggressions has focused on ethnic minorities. However, LGBTQ+ persons have been shown to experience multiple layers of stress (Kuyper & Fokkema, 2011). Furthermore, Critical Race Theory suggests that all of a person’s social statuses interact (e.g., a black lesbian woman’s three core identities ramify). This theory—called Intersectionality—suggests increased, multidimensional stress is likely to result for LGBTQ+ people of color (Holloway et al., 2015). I conducted a study addressing all of these important issues, including whether LGBTQ-BIPOC participants who report high levels of minority stress and microaggressions experience more anxiety and depression than LGBTQ+ only participants. My presentation will discuss my results as well as their clinical and research implications.