Coming out under fire: The role of minority stress and emotion regulation in sexual orientation disclosure

Abstract

Minority stress is hypothesized to interfere with sexual orientation disclosure and sexual minority wellbeing. In this study, we investigated whether minority stress is causally linked to reduced disclosure in sexual minorities, and whether emotion regulation, a potentially adaptive form of stigma coping, can intervene to promote disclosure even following exposure to minority stress. Sexual minority adults in the US (N = 168) were recruited online and randomized to a 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design, where they: 1) received either emotion regulation instructions that asked them to either distance themselves from an emotionally evocative film clip or immerse themselves in the clip, and then 2) viewed either an affirming or a minority stress film clip. Following the film clip, participants completed a written reflection task in which they reflected on the film clip they viewed, which allowed research assistants to subsequently code for participants’ spontaneous disclosures of sexual orientation. Participants who viewed the minority stress clip were significantly less likely to spontaneously disclose their sexual orientation in the written task compared to those who viewed the affirming film clip, OR = 3.21, 95% CI [1.14, 9.05], p = .03. Although the emotion regulation manipulation was successful, there was no effect on sexual orientation disclosure. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate a causal link between minority stress and disclosure in sexual minorities, and thus highlights an important mechanism underlying minority stress’s effects on sexual minority wellbeing. Results demonstrate the importance of interventions that affirm marginalized identities and promote safe sexual orientation disclosure. Future research is needed to determine the circumstances under which effective emotion regulation can buffer against the negative emotional effects of minority stress to promote healthy approach behaviors like disclosure in safe contexts.