Discrimination, Depression, and Anxiety Among Sexual Minority and Heterosexual Young Adults: The Role of Self-Compassion

Abstract

Purpose: The objectives of this study were to examine whether self-compassion may be a protective coping resource against depression and anxiety symptoms for young adults experiencing discrimination and to explore the protective influence of self-compassion among sexual minority young adults (SMYAs) relative to heterosexual peers. Methods: Undergraduate college students (N = 251; 189 heterosexual and 62 sexual minority individuals) completed online self-report questionnaires related to discrimination experiences, depression, anxiety, and self-compassion. Two moderated moderation analyses were conducted to (1) identify whether self-compassion buffered the relationship between discrimination and depression and between discrimination and anxiety and (2) whether this buffering effect varied by sexual identity (i.e., heterosexual vs. sexual minority). Results: Self-compassion significantly moderated the relationship between discrimination and depression for the full sample. Further examination revealed that self-compassion significantly moderated the relationship between discrimination and depression among SMYAs, but not among heterosexual young adults. SMYAs with higher self-compassion reported fewer depression symptoms than SMYAs with lower self-compassion, even when reporting more frequent experiences of discrimination. Self-compassion did not moderate the relationship between discrimination and anxiety for the full sample, nor did this relationship vary by sexual identity. Conclusions: Self-compassion may be a particularly important coping resource to protect against depression symptoms among SMYAs experiencing discrimination. These findings provide an impetus for SMYA-tailored intervention and prevention efforts that incorporate cultivating self-compassion as a protective coping resource to buffer deleterious effects of discrimination.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; discrimination; self-compassion; sexual minority; young adults.

FIG. 1.

Conceptual model of self-compassion as a protective factor that varies with sexual identity.

FIG. 2.

Depression symptoms at varying levels of discrimination and self-compassion for sexual minority participants (A) and heterosexual participants (B). High and low refer to +1 SD and −1 SD, respectively. The two-way interaction was significant among the sexual minority group, but not among the heterosexual group. For sexual minority participants, there was a significant positive association between discrimination and depression (b = 0.30, 95% CI = [0.13 to 0.46], p < 0.001) for those with low self-compassion and there was a negative and nonsignificant association (b = −0.07, 95% CI = [−0.29 to 0.15], p = 0.52) for those with high self-compassion. CI, confidence interval; SD, standard deviation.