Sexual Orientation Beliefs in Context: Psychosocial Correlates, Inflexibility, and Mental Health Outcomes Among Sexual Minorities

In the present study, we sought to test if sexual orientation beliefs among sexual minorities were related to a wide variety of psychosocial stressors and mental health outcomes. We recruited a sample of sexual minority participants (N = 400) from Prolific – Academic who completed measures assessing sexual orientation beliefs (Arseneau et al., 2013), hometown climate (Human Rights Campaign, 2013), attempts to make bi+ identity visible(Davila et al., 2020), microaggressions against sexual minority people of color (Balsam et al., 2011), heterosexist harassment and discrimination (Szymanski, 2006), exposure to hate crimes (Herek et al., 1999), psychological inflexibility (Levin et al., 2014), depression (Kroenke et al., 2009), drug use (Skinner, 1982), suicidal ideation (May & Klonsky, 2011), post-traumatic stress (Adkins et al., 2008), and internalized homonegativity (Mohr & Kendra, 2011). We conducted a latent profile analysis on the Sexual Orientation Beliefs Scale (Arseneau et al., 2013) which resulted in a two-profile solution, wherein certain participants solely endorsed high levels of naturalness beliefs (naturalness-only profile) or endorsed high levels of essentialism across domains including homogeneity, discreteness, informativeness, and naturalness beliefs (i.e., multidimensional essentialism profile). Those recalling less affirming hometown climates were more likely to endorse the multidimensional profile than the naturalness-only profile. Those endorsing multidimensional essentialism were more likely to experience higher levels of depression, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and psychological inflexibility than those whose beliefs reflected the naturalness-only profile. Notably, in a subsequent regression, sexual orientation beliefs were at least as predictive of mental health outcomes as internalized homonegativity. Implications for theories of health inequities, including minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003), the psychological mediation framework (Hatzenbuehler, 2009), and the theory of decompensation (Riggs & Treharne, 2017), among sexual minorities are discussed.