Fitzpatrick Skye, Dworkin Emily R, Zimmerman Lindsey, Javorka McKenzie, Kaysen Debra
Department of Psychology, York University.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington.
Psychol Sex Orientat Gend Divers. 2020 Mar;7(1):46-54. doi: 10.1037/sgd0000351. Epub 2019 Oct 10.
Sexual minority women are at elevated risk for exposure to stressors (both traumatic and discriminatory) and have higher rates of alcohol consumption and problems. The psychological mediation framework (Hatzenbuehler, 2009) suggests that both general (e.g., traumatic events to which minorities and nonminorities may be exposed) and minority-group-specific (e.g., discrimination) stressors contribute to psychopathology through mediators such as emotion dysregulation. Guided by this framework, the present study longitudinally examined the relationship between stressors and problematic drinking outcomes (i.e., binge drinking and alcohol-related problems), as mediated by emotion dysregulation, in sexual minority women (SMW). It addressed two research questions: (1) whether stressors longitudinally predict problematic drinking outcomes in SMW, as mediated by emotion dysregulation, and (2) for which forms of stressor (i.e., traumatic events and/or discrimination) this mediational relationship is present. Young adult women ( = 1057) who identified as lesbian or bisexual completed annual measures of daily heterosexism, traumas, and drinking outcomes for four years, and completed a measure of emotion dysregulation during the third year of data collection. We found an indirect relationship between discrimination and problematic drinking outcomes via emotion dysregulation. These findings are consistent with the psychological mediation framework (Hatzenbuehler, 2009) and suggest that SMW group-specific processes such as discrimination may be especially important in conferring risk for problem drinking via emotion dysregulation. Clinicians are advised to assess unique stressors faced by SMW and their potential contribution to problematic drinking outcomes, and to target emotion dysregulation in alcohol treatments.
性少数群体女性面临更高的压力源暴露风险（包括创伤性和歧视性压力源），且饮酒量和饮酒问题发生率更高。心理中介框架（哈曾布勒，2009年）表明，一般压力源（例如少数群体和非少数群体都可能面临的创伤性事件）和特定少数群体压力源（例如歧视）都通过情绪失调等中介因素导致精神病理学问题。在这个框架的指导下，本研究纵向考察了性少数群体女性（SMW）中压力源与问题饮酒结果（即暴饮和与酒精相关的问题）之间的关系，该关系由情绪失调介导。研究解决了两个研究问题：（1）压力源是否通过情绪失调纵向预测SMW的问题饮酒结果；（2）这种中介关系存在于哪种压力源形式（即创伤性事件和/或歧视）中。1057名自我认同为女同性恋或双性恋的年轻成年女性连续四年完成了关于日常异性恋歧视、创伤和饮酒结果的年度测量，并在数据收集的第三年完成了情绪失调测量。我们发现歧视与问题饮酒结果之间通过情绪失调存在间接关系。这些发现与心理中介框架（哈曾布勒，2009年）一致，表明诸如歧视等特定SMW群体的过程可能在通过情绪失调导致问题饮酒风险方面尤为重要。建议临床医生评估SMW面临的独特压力源及其对问题饮酒结果的潜在影响，并在酒精治疗中针对情绪失调问题。
