IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i8p1052-d1453821.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strategies for Coping with Minority Stress among Queer Young Adults: Usage Frequency, Associations with Demographics, and Mental Health

Author

Listed:
  • Yinuo Xu

    (School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
    School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA)

  • William J. Hall

    (School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • McRae Scott

    (School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • Yutong Gao

    (School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA)

  • Pin-Chen Chiang

    (School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • Denise Yookong Williams

    (School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • Ankur Srivastava

    (School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • Magdelene E. Ramon

    (School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

  • Adam R. Englert

    (School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA)

Abstract

Queer young adults report significantly higher levels of anxiety and depression than their heterosexual counterparts, which is linked to sexual minority stress. Therefore, it is important to understand the coping strategies employed by this population to navigate minority stress and how coping strategies may impact mental health outcomes. Drawing from a U.S. national diverse sample of 387 queer young adults (ages 18–39 years), we analyzed descriptive results of 11 behavioral strategies to cope with minority stress and used ordered logistic and linear regression to examine the following objectives: the frequency of the use of each coping strategy, and the associations between each strategy and demographic characteristics as well as depression and anxiety. Results revealed that avoidance and talking with friends were the most frequently utilized coping strategies, while prayer/religious activities and counseling/psychotherapy/support groups were infrequently used. We examined utilization preferences of coping strategies across demographic factors (e.g., assigned sex at birth and sexual orientation). The use of counseling/psychotherapy/support group was positively associated with mental health symptoms, while exercise and mindfulness/mediation were associated with lower mental health symptoms. Our findings provide insights for mental health researchers and professionals in selecting appropriate coping strategies for queer young adults in prevention and intervention efforts.

Suggested Citation

  • Yinuo Xu & William J. Hall & McRae Scott & Yutong Gao & Pin-Chen Chiang & Denise Yookong Williams & Ankur Srivastava & Magdelene E. Ramon & Adam R. Englert, 2024. "Strategies for Coping with Minority Stress among Queer Young Adults: Usage Frequency, Associations with Demographics, and Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(8), pages 1-17, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:8:p:1052-:d:1453821
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/8/1052/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/8/1052/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kevin E. Levay & Jeremy Freese & James N. Druckman, 2016. "The Demographic and Political Composition of Mechanical Turk Samples," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(1), pages 21582440166, March.
    2. Mathijs F. G. Lucassen & Alicia Núñez-García & Katharine A. Rimes & Louise M. Wallace & Katherine E. Brown & Rajvinder Samra, 2022. "Coping Strategies to Enhance the Mental Wellbeing of Sexual and Gender Minority Youths: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-29, July.
    3. Blank, M.B. & Mahmood, M. & Fox, J.C. & Guterbock, T., 2002. "Alternative mental health services: The role of the Black church in the South," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(10), pages 1668-1672.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Deena A. Isom & Hunter M. Boehme & Toniqua C. Mikell & Stephen Chicoine & Marion Renner, 2021. "Status Threat, Social Concerns, and Conservative Media: A Look at White America and the Alt-Right," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, July.
    2. Heidi E Brown & Erika Austhof & Paula M Luz & Daniel B Ferguson, 2023. "Economics, health, or environment: What motivates individual climate action?," PLOS Climate, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(8), pages 1-16, August.
    3. John Hulland & Jeff Miller, 2018. "“Keep on Turkin’”?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(5), pages 789-794, September.
    4. Mark W Susmann & Graham N Dixon & Brad J Bushman & R Kelly Garrett, 2022. "Correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non-gun owners," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(6), pages 1-13, June.
    5. Valentina A. Bali & Lindon J. Robison & Richard Winder, 2020. "What Motivates People to Vote? The Role of Selfishness, Duty, and Social Motives When Voting," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, October.
    6. Kutaula, Smirti & Gillani, Alvina & Leonidou, Leonidas C. & Christodoulides, Paul, 2022. "Integrating fair trade with circular economy: Personality traits, consumer engagement, and ethically-minded behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1087-1102.
    7. Alexsandros Cavgias & Raphael Corbi, Luis Meloni, Lucas M. Novaes, 2019. "EDITED DEMOCRACY: Media Manipulation and the News Coverage of Presidential Debates," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2019_17, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    8. Eugene Y. Chan & Jack Lin, 2022. "Political ideology and psychological reactance: how serious should climate change be?," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 1-22, May.
    9. Carola Binder, 2020. "Coronavirus Fears and Macroeconomic Expectations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 721-730, October.
    10. Michael Thaler, 2020. "Good News Is Not a Sufficient Condition for Motivated Reasoning," Papers 2012.01548, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.
    11. Soojong Kim, 2019. "Directionality of information flow and echoes without chambers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-22, May.
    12. Ann Bostrom & Adam L. Hayes & Katherine M. Crosman, 2019. "Efficacy, Action, and Support for Reducing Climate Change Risks," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(4), pages 805-828, April.
    13. Michael Kumove, 2022. "Does Language Foster Reconciliation? Evidence From the Former Yugoslavia," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 66(4-5), pages 783-808, May.
    14. Vincenz Frey & Arnout van de Rijt, 2021. "Social Influence Undermines the Wisdom of the Crowd in Sequential Decision Making," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(7), pages 4273-4286, July.
    15. Katherine M. Crosman & Ann Bostrom & Adam L. Hayes, 2019. "Efficacy Foundations for Risk Communication: How People Think About Reducing the Risks of Climate Change," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(10), pages 2329-2347, October.
    16. Richard S. Henry & Paul B. Perrin & Erin R. Smith, 2022. "Religiosity, Religious Fundamentalism, Heterosexism, and Support for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights: A Moderated Mediation Approach," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, April.
    17. Bell Elizabeth & Fryar Alisa Hicklin & Johnson Tyler, 2021. "Exploring Public Perceptions of Nonprofit Policy Advocacy," Nonprofit Policy Forum, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 311-340, July.
    18. Pierce, Jonathan J. & Boudet, Hilary & Zanocco, Chad & Hillyard, Megan, 2018. "Analyzing the factors that influence U.S. public support for exporting natural gas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 666-674.
    19. Alexander Krauss & Matteo Colombo, 2020. "Explaining public understanding of the concepts of climate change, nutrition, poverty and effective medical drugs: An international experimental survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-21, June.
    20. Binder, Carola Conces, 2022. "Time-of-day and day-of-week variations in Amazon Mechanical Turk survey responses," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:8:p:1052-:d:1453821. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.