[Is minority stress the cause of poor mental health in sexual minorities?]

Abstract

Sexual minorities suffer from worse than average mental health. The most widespread explanation of this phenomenon is minority stress theory, which attributes poor mental health to stigmatization and discrimination by the rest of society. In my review I argue that minority stress theory is not a sufficient explanation of poor mental health in sexual minorities. My arguments are based on four observations: 1. other social groups which experience or historically experienced discrimination do not suffer from poor mental health; 2. sexual minorities suffer from worse than average mental health even when they experience a low level of discrimination; 3. the quasi-experimental studies best suited to support this theory suffer from serious methodological errors; 4.genetic-biometric studies do not or only partially support the hypothesis that sexual minority status (through discrimination or other mechanisms) is causal to poor men tal health. Alternative theories are necessary to explain the etiology of mental health problems in sexual minorities.