Mental health of sexual minorities: Incorporating social processes into a psychological model

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Studies have shown that lesbian, gay and bisexual peopleare more likely to experience mental health issues thanheterosexuals, including anxiety and depression (King,2008). Research identifying factors contributing to thisvulnerability could help us develop interventions to reducedistress in this group. Consistent with cognitive theories(e.g. Beck, 1979), research suggests that core negativebeliefs about the self contribute to mental health issuesamong sexual minorities. In particular, low self-esteemmay be implicated, as sexual minorities tend to have lowerself-esteem than heterosexuals (Bridge et al., 2019). It isalso thought that negative core beliefs about otherscontribute to mental health issues. However, little researchhas considered sexual minority individuals' beliefs aboutothers, and how these beliefs affect mental health. Thisproject will address these gaps by incorporating theoriesfrom social sciences with psychological models of mentalhealth issues. Interviews will be conducted with sexualminority people to investigate the content of their beliefsabout others and how they relate to social experiences. Aself-report measure will be developed to assess beliefsabout others, which will be used to compare beliefsbetween heterosexual people and sexual minorities, and toinvestigate how beliefs associate with experiences ofstigma. Finally, an intervention for sexual minorities aimingto address such negative beliefs will be developed andpiloted.