SMMS - Sexual Minorities' Mental Health
Research into mental health psychopathology shows a greater number of mental symptoms and disorders among minority sexualities (Plöderl & Tremblay, 2015; Wittgens et al., 2022). These psychological difficulties are accentuated in bisexual and asexual people. Current models (Meyer & Frost, 2013; Pachankis & Jackson, 2023) explain these discrepancies by the structural and contextual stigmatization of sexual minorities in our heteronormative societies and by the availability of internal (coping strategies) and external (social support) resources to which the individual has access. However, a lack of methodological robustness in these studies limits their conclusions, excludes a proportion of sexual minorities and restricts the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing psychological difficulties (Walch et al., 2020; Wolff et al., 2017). Furthermore, no study, to our knowledge, has examined mental health among sexual minorities of French nationality from a psychopathological perspective. The aim of this research project is therefore to analyze the relationship between mental health and sexual minorities in the French population by focusing on:
the transferability of Anglo-Saxon knowledge to the French population
inclusion of all sexual minorities in studies
study method standardization and validation
adaptation and validation of interventions aimed at reducing psychological difficulties
References
Meyer, I. H., & Frost, D. M. (2013). Minority stress and the health of sexual minorities. In C. J. Patterson & A. R. D'Augelli (Eds.), Handbook of psychology and sexual orientation (pp. 252–266). Oxford University Press.
Pachankis, J. E., & Jackson, S. D. (2023). A Developmental Model of the Sexual Minority Closet: Structural Sensitization, Psychological Adaptations, and Post-closet Growth. Archives of sexual behavior, 52(5), 1869–1895. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02381-w
Plöderl, M., & Tremblay, P. (2015). Mental health of sexual minorities. A systematic review. International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England), 27(5), 367–385. https://doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2015.1083949
Walch, S. E., Bernal, D. R., Gibson, L., Murray, L., Thien, S., & Steinnecker, K. (2020). Systematic review of the content and methods of empirical psychological research on LGBTQ and SGM populations in the new millennium. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 7(4), 433–454. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000364
Wittgens, C., Fischer, M. M., Buspavanich, P., Theobald, S., Schweizer, K., & Trautmann, S. (2022). Mental health in people with minority sexual orientations: A meta-analysis of population-based studies. Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 145(4), 357–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.13405
Sirdenis, T. K., Harper, G. W., Carrillo, M. D., et al. (2019). Toward Sexual Health Equity for Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth: An Intergenerational, Collaborative, Multisector Partnerships Approach to Structural Change. Health Education & Behavior, 46(1_suppl):88S-99S. doi:10.1177/1090198119853607