The prevalence of mental health disorders among young adult members of sexual minorities, such as homosexual, bisexual, and queer men, is concerningly high. Research has consistently demonstrated that, when compared to their heterosexual counterparts, these populations experience higher rates of anxiety and depression symptoms. Stressors that affect minorities, including internalized homonegativity, discrimination, and emotion dysregulation, are frequently connected to mental health challenges. Developing successful therapies suited to this vulnerable group requires an understanding of the complex interactions between these stressors and the identification of essential resilience variables.
This study aimed to investigate how internal resilience factors, particularly self-compassion and mindfulness, influence the association between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among gay men. The results showed that discrimination has a significant impact on mental health as it leads to increased psychological distress and poor emotion regulation by fostering internalized negative beliefs, known as internalized homonegativity.
The study revealed that mindfulness and self-compassion could disrupt the negative cycle of discrimination’s impact on internalized homonegativity. While mindfulness and self-compassion generally reduced stress and internalized stigma, they surprisingly intensified emotional distress for individuals with high levels of internalized homonegativity. This suggests that for some, increasing awareness through mindfulness might initially bring more painful emotions linked to internalized negative beliefs before relief. It’s essential to investigate the types of social support that best mitigate the negative effects of minority stress. Social support can weaken the link between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating among gay men, highlighting its protective role. Developing interventions that enhance social support networks could further improve resilience for sexual minority men.
Although self-compassion and mindfulness offer beneficial strategies for improving mental health in men who identify as sexual minorities, they can not always eliminate unpleasant emotions and make them more apparent at first. As a result, for treatments utilizing these interventions to be completely effective, they may need to be carefully customized and given more time and assistance. To ensure that these methods are most effectively applied to promote the mental health of young adult males who identify as sexual minorities, longer-term research is required.