Testing a New Model of Sexual Minority Stress to Assess the Roles of Meaning in Life and Internalized Heterosexism on Stress-Related Growth and Life Satisfaction

This study tested two theoretically and empirically derived structural equation models based on Hatzenbuehler's integrative mediational model of minority stress to examine the potential pathways between heterosexist discrimination, internalized heterosexism, meaning in life, stress-related growth, and life satisfaction among a sample of 287 sexual minority individuals. The models represented competing hypotheses for this sample, regarding the manners by which these variables were related, directly and indirectly versus indirectly only. The hypothesized indirect and direct effects model fit significantly better than the alternative indirect effects model. The results provided support for Hatzenbuehler's Integrative Mediational Model. Findings showed all but one structural coefficient was statistically significant (heterosexist discrimination was not predictive of life satisfaction as a direct effect). All four indirect effects were significant. The results provided support for Hatzenbuehler's model, suggesting that sexual minority individuals' experience of minority stress in the form of heterosexist discrimination may be linked directly with greater stress-related growth and indirectly to life satisfaction through the general psychological process of finding meaning in life. This study also provided additional evidence indicating the potential importance of reducing the internalized heterosexism for sexual minority individuals, with higher levels of internalized heterosexism being directly related to lower levels of both stress-related growth and life satisfaction, as well as indirectly affecting the positive relationship between minority stress and stress-related growth. Study limitations and implications for research and practice are also provided.