Vargas Sylvanna M, Parra Luis A, Yu Stephanie H, Flores Ashley, Rivas Wilmer A, Payat Sinan, Mistry Roxanne, Griffith Krystal, Williams Clarence R, Gamez Diana, Saxbe Darby, Huey Stanley J, Lau Anna, Chung Bowen, Miranda Jeanne
Department of Psychiatry, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, LA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of California, LA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, USA; Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California, USA.
School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA; Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, University of Southern California, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2025 Jun;176:107429. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2025.107429. Epub 2025 Mar 22.
Significant gaps remain in our understanding of how minority stress patterns health outcomes for adults at the intersection of ethnicity/ race and sexual orientation. In particular, little is known about how cumulative cortisol (measured via hair cortisol concentration as an indicator of chronic stress; HCC) and depressive symptoms are related to holding an intersectional minoritized identity (e.g., sexual minority people of color; SM-POC) and experiencing intersectional discrimination (e.g., heterosexism and racism). The current study examined the relationship between intersectional identity or discrimination and HCC or depressive symptoms. Participants were (N = 69) low-income, predominantly sexual minority and people of color in the Greater Los Angeles area. Participants completed self-report measures and provided a hair sample for cortisol assay. Intersectional identity was not associated with greater HCC or depressive symptoms. However, differences in HCC emerged based on discrimination type (F (2, 66) = 3.74, p = .03, η= .10). Participants who reported intersectional heterosexism and racism had greater HCC concentrations (M = 30.71, SD = 29.71) than did participants who reported only a single type of discrimination (i.e., racism only or heterosexism only; M = 15.35, SD = 2.60, p = .03, 95 % CI = [2.01, 28.71]), or than participants who reported neither types (M = 12.40, SD = 16.11, p = .01, 95 % CI [4.85, 31.76]). There were no differences in depressive symptoms by discrimination type. These results provide initial empirical support to largely theoretical arguments about how to investigate mechanisms underlying disparities to understand why and how minority stress is patterned. Findings showing associations between intersectional discrimination and HCC, but not depressive symptoms, provide potential support for theories about examining allostatic load markers to identify stress-related etiological mechanisms linked to health disparities among minoritized populations.
在理解少数群体压力如何在种族/民族与性取向交叉的情况下影响成年人的健康结果方面，仍然存在重大差距。特别是，关于累积皮质醇（通过头发皮质醇浓度测量作为慢性压力的指标；HCC）和抑郁症状如何与持有交叉少数群体身份（例如，有色性少数群体；SM-POC）以及经历交叉歧视（例如，异性恋主义和种族主义）相关，人们知之甚少。当前的研究考察了交叉身份或歧视与HCC或抑郁症状之间的关系。参与者（N = 69）是大洛杉矶地区的低收入人群，主要是性少数群体和有色人种。参与者完成了自我报告测量，并提供了头发样本用于皮质醇检测。交叉身份与更高的HCC或抑郁症状无关。然而，基于歧视类型，HCC出现了差异（F(2, 66) = 3.74，p = 0.03，η = 0.10）。报告交叉异性恋主义和种族主义的参与者的HCC浓度（M = 30.71，SD = 29.71）高于仅报告单一类型歧视的参与者（即仅种族主义或仅异性恋主义；M = 15.35，SD = 2.60，p = 0.03，95% CI = [2.01, 至28.71]），也高于未报告这两种类型歧视的参与者（M = 12.40，SD = 16.11，p = 0.01，95% CI [4.85, 31.76]）。抑郁症状在不同歧视类型之间没有差异。这些结果为关于如何研究差异背后机制以理解少数群体压力为何以及如何形成模式的大量理论观点提供了初步实证支持。研究结果表明交叉歧视与HCC之间存在关联，但与抑郁症状无关，这为关于检查应激负荷标志物以识别与少数群体健康差异相关的应激相关病因机制的理论提供了潜在支持。
