title: Concealing Concealment: The Mediating Role of Internalized Heterosexism in Psychological Distress Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Older Adults.
abstract: Recent population-based studies indicate that sexual minorities aged 50 and older experience significantly higher rates of psychological distress than their heterosexual age-peers. The minority stress model has been useful in explaining disparately high rates of psychological distress among younger sexual minorities. The purpose of this study is to test a hypothesized structural relationship between two minority stressors--internalized heterosexism and concealment of sexual orientation--and consequent psychological distress among a sample of 2,349 lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults aged 50 to 95 years old. Structural equation modeling indicates that concealment has a nonsignificant direct effect on psychological distress but a significant indirect effect that is mediated through internalized heterosexism; the effect of concealment is itself concealed. This may explain divergent results regarding the role of concealment in psychological distress in other studies, and the implications will be discussed.
authors: a College of Social Work , University of Utah , Salt Lake City , Utah , USA.
authors: Charles P
authors: CP
authors: Hoy-Ellis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology; D010379:Peer Group; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Aging; bisexual; gay; lesbian; mental health; minority stress; older adults; psychological distress; sexual minorities