Psychosocial Stressors Explaining the Monosexual-Bisexual Disparity in Mental Health: A Population-Based Study of Sexual-Minority Young Adults.

Bisexual people report greater mental-health problems (i.e., depression, anxiety, suicidality) compared with their monosexual (i.e., gay or lesbian) peers. Yet existing studies often use nonprobability samples, analyze few psychosocial stressors, and overlook bisexual people's considerable diversity. We analyzed data from a population-based study of sexual-minority young adults in Sweden (N = 748) that assessed identity-related stressors (e.g., family rejection) and general life stressors (e.g., financial loss). Bisexual respondents reported more mental-health problems and general life stressors, but fewer identity-related stressors, than monosexual respondents. Latent class analysis revealed three distinct bisexual subgroups with varying patterns of gender-based sexual attractions, gender of sexual partners, gender conformity, and sexual-identity centrality that were associated with unique patterns of psychosocial stressors and mental health. Findings show that general life stressors play an important role in bisexual people's mental health. Future research is needed, especially on the role these stressors play during critical developmental periods such as young adulthood.