Internalized Heterosexism, Religious Coping, and Psychache in Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young Adults

Psychache, or unbearable psychological pain (Shneidman, 1993, 1999), has been found to be the most proximal predictor of suicidality. There is evidence that heterosexism (Crain-Gully, 2011), including internalized heterosexism (IH; Bourn & Miles, 2015), is related to psychache among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals. The current study sought to further examine the relationship between IH and psychache, by identifying potential factors that moderate and mediate the relationship between IH and psychache. It was hypothesized that, in a sample of religiously-identified LGB young adults, (a) IH would be significantly, negatively correlated with positive religious coping (PRC) and significantly, positively correlated with negative religious coping (NRC) and psychache, (b) PRC would moderate the relationship between IH and psychache, and (c) NRC would mediate the relationship between IH and psychache. A sample of 617 participants completed an online, self-report survey examining IH, the use of religious coping mechanisms, and psychache. As predicted, IH was significantly, positively correlated with NRC and psychache, but it was also significantly, positively correlated with PRC. While main effects were found for both PRC and IH in the moderation analysis, the interaction was not significant. Finally, NRC mediated the relationship between IH and psychache. Study implications, limitations, and future directions are considered.