Emotion-Focused Coping Strategies as Mediators of the Discrimination-Mental Health Association Among LGB POC

Public Significance Statement The current study adds to the robust literature documenting the link among heterosexism and racism with worsened mental health for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people of color (LGB POC). Religious coping, behavioral disengagement, substance use, and acceptance coping accounted for associations among heterosexism and racism with psychological distress and subjective well-being. Such findings provide evidence for factors that have potential to exacerbate or reduce mental health disparities for LGB POC. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people of color (LGB POC) experience multiple forms of discrimination that are negatively associated with mental health. Models of discrimination describe how specific coping strategies may mitigate the impact of discrimination on mental health. In the current study, we tested seven specific emotion-focused coping strategies to determine which are most strongly associated with mental health outcomes in a sample of 356 LGB POC. Structural equation modeling was used to assess emotion-focused coping strategies (religious coping, behavioral disengagement, substance use, acceptance, focus on and venting of emotions, positive reinterpretation, and mental disengagement) as mediators of the indirect relations among heterosexism and racism with psychological distress and subjective well-being. Results showed that religious coping, behavioral disengagement, substance use coping, and acceptance coping were maladaptive responses to discrimination, with differences seen between racist and heterosexist discrimination. In particular, religious coping mediated the relations between heterosexism and well-being. Behavioral disengagement, substance use, and acceptance coping mediated the associations between racism and psychological distress. Behavioral disengagement and acceptance coping mediated the relations between racism and well-being. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed.