{"title":"Navigating Abortion Stigma: Abortion Identity Centrality, Stigma Management Strategies, and Psychological Outcomes","authors":"Kathleen O’Shea, Laurel B. Watson","doi":"10.1007/s11199-025-01588-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in a landmark decision that reversed decades of legal precedent for abortion access at the national level, instead returning decisions about reproductive autonomy to individual states. This decision both reflects and produces abortion stigma, which has been linked to harmful psychosocial outcomes among abortion recipients. In a sample of 269 primarily White, heterosexual, cisgender women, this study sought to examine the relation between abortion stigma and psychological outcomes through abortion identity centrality. Additionally, we explored the role of two potential stigma-management strategies in these relations—abortion history disclosure and reproductive justice advocacy. Results indicated that abortion stigma was related to greater levels of distress and lower psychological well-being. The relation between abortion stigma and psychological well-being through abortion identity centrality was non-significant at high levels of reproductive justice advocacy, primarily due to advocacy’s buffering role in the relation between abortion identity centrality and psychological well-being. Furthermore, abortion stigma was significantly negatively related to psychological well-being at moderate to higher levels of disclosure. Mental health providers are encouraged to consider the roles of abortion stigma on the mental health of those who have experienced abortion, while also considering potential stigma-management strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":48425,"journal":{"name":"Sex Roles","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Sex Roles","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-025-01588-0","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in a landmark decision that reversed decades of legal precedent for abortion access at the national level, instead returning decisions about reproductive autonomy to individual states. This decision both reflects and produces abortion stigma, which has been linked to harmful psychosocial outcomes among abortion recipients. In a sample of 269 primarily White, heterosexual, cisgender women, this study sought to examine the relation between abortion stigma and psychological outcomes through abortion identity centrality. Additionally, we explored the role of two potential stigma-management strategies in these relations—abortion history disclosure and reproductive justice advocacy. Results indicated that abortion stigma was related to greater levels of distress and lower psychological well-being. The relation between abortion stigma and psychological well-being through abortion identity centrality was non-significant at high levels of reproductive justice advocacy, primarily due to advocacy’s buffering role in the relation between abortion identity centrality and psychological well-being. Furthermore, abortion stigma was significantly negatively related to psychological well-being at moderate to higher levels of disclosure. Mental health providers are encouraged to consider the roles of abortion stigma on the mental health of those who have experienced abortion, while also considering potential stigma-management strategies.
期刊介绍:
Sex Roles: A Journal of Research is a global, multidisciplinary, scholarly, social and behavioral science journal with a feminist perspective. It publishes original research reports as well as original theoretical papers and conceptual review articles that explore how gender organizes people’s lives and their surrounding worlds, including gender identities, belief systems, representations, interactions, relations, organizations, institutions, and statuses. The range of topics covered is broad and dynamic, including but not limited to the study of gendered attitudes, stereotyping, and sexism; gendered contexts, culture, and power; the intersections of gender with race, class, sexual orientation, age, and other statuses and identities; body image; violence; gender (including masculinities) and feminist identities; human sexuality; communication studies; work and organizations; gendered development across the life span or life course; mental, physical, and reproductive health and health care; sports; interpersonal relationships and attraction; activism and social change; economic, political, and legal inequities; and methodological challenges and innovations in doing gender research.