An experimental study of vicarious exposure to heterosexism and its effects on internalized heterosexism-based processes among sexual minority young adults.
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: = 3.49), who engaged in recent heavy drinking and were recruited from the community (51.5% female sex assigned at birth; 76.3% cisgender; 51.5% plurisexual; and 42.6% racial and ethnic minorities). They completed three experimental mood induction trials counterbalanced over three laboratory visits on different days: heterosexism stress, general stress, and neutral. Results indicated that the heterosexism stress condition produced more internalized heterosexism, heterosexism-specific rejection sensitivity, and sexual orientation rumination than the general stress and neutral conditions, while controlling for demographic variables and exposure to structural heterosexism during adolescence. These effects were small to medium in their magnitude. Moreover, exploratory analyses indicated that these effects were somewhat larger among participants who resided in states with high structural heterosexism during adolescence. As further specificity, we documented no statistically significant differences between the general stress and neutral conditions. This study provides the first experimental evidence that vicarious exposure to heterosexism elicits internalized heterosexism-specific processes among sexual minority young adults. These novel findings extend and have implications for heterosexism-based stress and stigma models.
DOI: 10.1037/sgd0000831
Authors: Ethan H. Mereish, Robert Miranda
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409215939