Racism and Heterosexism as Correlates of Psychological Distress in African American Sexual Minority Women

This study examined the relations between experiences of racism and heterosexism, both external and internalized, and African American sexual minority women's psychological distress. Results indicated that racist events, heterosexist events, and internalized heterosexism each correlated positively with psychological distress; however, when examined together, only racist events and internalized heterosexism accounted for unique variance. Furthermore, internalized racism, the interaction of racist events and heterosexist events, and the interaction of internalized racism and internalized heterosexism did not predict psychological distress. The findings supported a "complex additive" multicultural-feminist oppression perspective.