Relationships between structural stigma, societal stigma, and minority stress among gender minority people.

Abstract

Structural stigma towards gender minority (GM; people whose current gender does not align with sex assigned at birth) people is an important contributor to minority stress (i.e., stress experienced due to one's marginalized GM identity), although existing variables are unclear in their inclusion of social norms, or societal stigma, as a key component of the construct. We examined potential variables representing structural stigma, including variables that are inclusive of societal stigma, to identify those that most strongly relate to minority stress outcomes. We tested variables identified in the literature as measures of structural stigma inclusive of societal stigma (LGBT?+?Business Climate Index, state voting behaviors, and Google Trends search data), the most commonly used structural stigma variable (State Policy Environment Tally), and proxy variables (region, population density) for comparison. The relationships between structural stigma and minority stress model outcomes were tested in a sample of GM participants from The Population Research in Identity and Disparities for Equality (PRIDE) Study (N?=?2,094) 2019 Annual Questionnaire using a structural equation model (SEM). Lower structural stigma (i.e., higher LGBT Business Climate Index) was associated with lower experienced stigma (ß= -0.260, p?

View details for DOI 10.1038/s41598-024-85013-8

View details for PubMedID 39848993

View details for PubMedCentralID 4689648