O te peinas, o te haces rolos: Intersectional Discrimination, Identity Conflict, and Mental Health Among Latinx Sexual Minoritized Adults

Objectives: People of color with minoritized sexual identities (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer) experience identity-based challenges from outside and within their communities. Through the integrative lens of minority stress theory and intersectionality, the present study examined identity conflict, also known as conflicts in allegiances—the perceived incongruence between one’s sexual and ethnic identities—as a statistical mediator of the association between intersectional discrimination (heterosexist discrimination experienced within the Latinx community and ethnic discrimination experienced within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer [LGBTQ+] community) and mental health outcomes (depression and anxiety). Method: A cross-sectional sample of 452 Latinx sexual minoritized adults living in the United States participated in the study. The PROCESS macro (Model 4; Hayes, 2018) was used to test the hypothesis that heterosexist discrimination experienced within the Latinx community and ethnic discrimination experienced within the LGBTQ+ community are associated with depression and anxiety indirectly through identity conflict. In each mediation model, outness to family was included as a covariate, along with participant age, education, generation status, and language preference. Results: Approximately 37% of participants had clinically significant depression scores and 54% had clinically significant anxiety scores. As expected, experiences of intersectional discrimination (i.e., Latinx heterosexist discrimination and LGBTQ+ ethnic discrimination) were indirectly associated with depression and anxiety through higher levels of identity conflict. Conclusions: Findings increase awareness of unique psychosocial factors that may underlie mental health inequities affecting Latinx adults with minoritized sexual identities. Such knowledge can facilitate the development of culturally responsive interventions that best support this diverse population by addressing intersectional minority stressors.