Ghauri Yusuf, Berlin Graham W, Skakoon-Sparling Shayna, Zahran Adhm, Brennan David J, Adam Barry D, Hart Trevor A
Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada.
Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Rd E, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Jun 21;15(7):839. doi: 10.3390/bs15070839.
Sexual minority men (SMM) experience anti-SMM stressors and have elevated rates of mental health issues compared to heterosexual men, such as depression. Importantly, strengths-based factors may directly increase wellbeing and provide a buffer against the detrimental effects of such stressors. In the present study, we integrated risk and strengths-based models to examine predictors of depression symptoms in a sample of 465 Canadian SMM across three time points using multilevel modeling. Higher scores on a measure of childhood physical abuse at baseline, and greater within-person (i.e., deviation from individual's average) and between-person (i.e., deviation from group average) internalized homonegativity and heterosexist discrimination were associated with higher depression scores. Higher within- and between-person scores on measures of self-esteem, social support, and hope were associated with lower depression scores. Social support buffered the effects of between-person heterosexist discrimination on depression symptoms: at mean and high levels of social support, heterosexist discrimination was not associated with depression symptoms. This is the first study to disaggregate between-person and within-person effects of both risk factors and strengths-based factors among SMM, which has critical importance for the development of tailored individual-level interventions that target internalized homonegativity, hope, social support, and self-esteem to alleviate symptoms of depression among SMM.
与异性恋男性相比，性少数群体男性（SMM）经历着反SMM压力源，且心理健康问题发生率更高，比如抑郁症。重要的是，基于优势的因素可能直接提升幸福感，并缓冲此类压力源的有害影响。在本研究中，我们整合了基于风险和优势的模型，使用多层次建模，在三个时间点对465名加拿大SMM样本中的抑郁症状预测因素进行了考察。基线时童年身体虐待量表得分较高，以及个体内部（即偏离个体平均水平）和个体间（即偏离群体平均水平）内化的同性恋消极态度及异性恋歧视程度较高，均与较高的抑郁得分相关。自尊、社会支持和希望量表上个体内部和个体间得分较高与较低的抑郁得分相关。社会支持缓冲了个体间异性恋歧视对抑郁症状的影响：在社会支持处于平均水平和高水平时，异性恋歧视与抑郁症状无关。这是第一项剖析SMM中风险因素和基于优势的因素在个体间和个体内部影响的研究，这对于制定针对性的个体层面干预措施至关重要，这些干预措施旨在针对内化的同性恋消极态度、希望、社会支持和自尊，以减轻SMM的抑郁症状。
