Predicting Self‐Esteem, Well‐Being, and Distress in a Cohort of Gay Men: The Importance of Cultural Stigma, Personal Visibility, Community Networks, and Positive Identity

1997/09/01 by Deborrah E. S. Frable, Camilla Wortman, Jill Joseph +1 · 6 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · Medicine · #LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy #Racial and Ethnic Identity Research #HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.1997.tb00328.x

Abstract

Homosexual and bisexual men (N = 825) enrolled in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study in Chicago completed a 90-minute self-administered questionnaire that included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a Well-Being Index, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. Participants indicated their experiences with gay stigma, their visibility as gay men, their involvement in the gay community, and their commitment to a positive gay identity. Data from this predominantly white, young, educated, and middle-class cohort are consistent with a structural model in which cultural stigma is negatively associated with positive self-perceptions. This within-group result contrasts sharply with between-group results that indicate our gay cohort was neither particularly low in global self-esteem nor high in psychological distress when compared to nonstigmatized samples.

Citations

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Cited by

• Gender Nonconformity, Homophobia, and Mental Distress in Latino Gay and Bisexual Men
• Gender Nonconformity, Sexual Orientation, and Psychological Well-Being
• Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence.
• The psychological implications of concealing a stigma: A cognitive-affective-behavioral model.
• “ YOU Were Adopted?!”
• The paradox of self-stigma and mental illness.

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