Religiousness, Support, Distal Stressors, and Psychological Distress among Black Sexual Minority College Students

Abstract Guided by intersectionality theory, we examined the prevalence and influence of various types of stressors and support on the mental health of Black sexual minorities, paying special attention to the role of families. We used a United States national sample of 1,123 Black sexual minority college students drawn from the Collegiate Center for Mental Health 2013-2014 data set. Participants reported a range of sexual identities, with the minority of our sample identifying as gay or lesbian. Nearly half of our sample reported experiences of harassment and/or trauma, with a third of participants reporting being sexually assaulted. Most of our sample reported being religiously affiliated with only 15.7% of the sample indicating that religion/spirituality was unimportant to them. We found that family, social, and religious support were all negatively related to psychological distress, though none of the support variables significantly moderated the relationship between stressors and psychological distress.