4 - (SYM 75) Sexual and Gender Minority Youth's Experiences of Vicarious Oppression and Its Associations with Mental Health Outcomes: Protective Role of LGBTQIA+ Community Connectedness

Objective: Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth are at elevated risk for poorer mental health outcomes (i.e., anxiety and depression) compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers. This is in part due to SGM youth’s lived experiences with oppression, which leads to significant stress and trauma. Vicarious oppression is the indirect exposure to heterosexist and cissexist discrimination, stigma, or victimization (i.e., cisheterosexism). However, little is known about the mental health outcomes associated with SGM youth’s experiences of vicarious oppression, as well as what factors may mitigate the deleterious effects of vicarious oppression. To address these limitations, we examined the associations between vicarious oppression and symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as the moderating role of LGBTQIA+ community connectedness on these associations for SGM youth.

Methods: Participants were 370 SGM youth, ages 18-25 years old (M = 22.94, SD = 1.64; 65% bisexual; 49% cisgender women; 45% racial/ethnic minorities), who were recruited from an online research panel. Participants completed self-report measures of vicarious cisheterosexism, LGBTQIA+ community connectedness, and anxiety and depression symptoms.

Results: Greater vicarious cisheterosexism was associated with more anxiety and depression symptoms, and a positive connection with the LGBTQIA+ community moderated these relationships. Specifically, vicarious cisheterosexism was associated with greater depressive symptoms only among participants with low levels of positive LGBTQIA+ community connectedness, whereas it was not associated with depressive symptoms among participants with high levels of positive LGBTQIA+ community connectedness. The association between vicarious cisheterosexism and anxiety symptoms was weaker for participants with high (versus low) levels of positive LGBTQIA+ community connectedness.

Conclusion: These novel findings shed light on the unique impact of vicarious oppression on mental health for SGM youth, especially given the current hostile anti-LGBTQIA+ political climate. The results also bring attention to the protective role of positive LGBTQIA+ community connectedness. Our findings have important implications for research and clinical interventions for SGM youth.