Characterizing Intersectional Stigma and Its Association With Mental Health Outcomes Among Sexual and Gender-Diverse Youth Assigned Male at Birth in the United States.

Abstract

Sexual and gender minorities experience disproportionately higher rates of depression and anxiety than cisgender heterosexual peers due to intersectional stigma. We conducted latent profile analyses to characterize participants' intersectional stigma experiences and examined associations with mental health outcomes. Among 750 diverse participants, we identified high and low intersectional stigma (IS) profiles for cisgender men (n = 666) and gender-diverse participants (n = 84). Cisgender men and gender-diverse participants with high IS had significantly higher anxiety, depression, and social isolation than cisgender men with low IS. Gender-diverse participants with high IS had significantly higher social isolation than those with low IS. Cisgender men with high IS had significantly higher anxiety, depression, and social isolation than gender-diverse participants with low IS. These findings underscore the need for mental health interventions that explicitly account for compounded effects of racism, cissexism, and heterosexism affecting multiply marginalized sexual and gender minority youth.