McLeish Alison C, Hartson Kimberly R, Hart Joy L, Walker Kandi L
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, School of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Psychol Psychother. 2025 Mar;98(1):90-102. doi: 10.1111/papt.12560. Epub 2024 Nov 18.
Sexual minority young adults report higher rates of anxiety and depression, and affective vulnerability factors (i.e. anxiety sensitivity, distress tolerance, emotion dysregulation) may help explain these mental health disparities.
The current cross-sectional study examined differences between sexual minority and heterosexual college students (n = 465; M = 19.84, SD = 3.51; 76.3% female) in anxiety, depression and affective vulnerability and whether affective vulnerability served as an explanatory mechanism in these associations.
Participants completed self-report measures for course credit.
Sexual minority young adults reported greater anxiety, depression, anxiety sensitivity, emotion regulation difficulties and lower distress tolerance. There were also significant indirect effects for all three affective vulnerability variables for anxiety symptoms and for emotion regulation difficulties for depression symptoms.
Affective vulnerability, particularly emotion regulation difficulties, appears to serve as a mechanism through which sexual minority status is associated with anxiety and depression. Improving emotion regulation skills may help to reduce mental health disparities in this population.
性少数青年成年人报告的焦虑和抑郁发生率较高，情感易损因素（即焦虑敏感性、痛苦耐受性、情绪失调）可能有助于解释这些心理健康差异。
当前的横断面研究考察了性少数大学生与异性恋大学生（n = 465；M = 19.84，标准差 = 3.51；76.3%为女性）在焦虑、抑郁和情感易损性方面的差异，以及情感易损性是否在这些关联中作为一种解释机制。
参与者为获得课程学分而完成自我报告测量。
性少数青年成年人报告有更高的焦虑、抑郁、焦虑敏感性、情绪调节困难以及更低的痛苦耐受性。对于焦虑症状的所有三个情感易损变量以及抑郁症状的情绪调节困难，也存在显著的间接效应。
情感易损性，尤其是情绪调节困难，似乎是性少数身份与焦虑和抑郁相关联的一种机制。提高情绪调节技能可能有助于减少该人群中的心理健康差异。
