Elevated psychological pain and related symptoms among sexual minority young adults

Abstract

Objective: Sexual minority (SM) young adults experience worse mental health outcomes than heterosexual peers, including increased depression and suicide risk. Psychological pain may play an important role in this relationship.

Participants: We examined psychological pain among heterosexual and SM college students (N = 1481).

Methods: We examined sexual minority status, depression, and loneliness as predictors of psychological pain.

Results: Psychological pain was significantly elevated among SM (n = 185) (M = 27.89, SD = 11.76) versus heterosexual participants (M = 21.55, SD = 9.67), t(219.55) = 6.99, p < .001, g = 0.64. Sexual minority status predicted psychological pain when accounting for depression and loneliness (b = 2.18, SE = 0.58, p < .001).

Conclusions: Psychological pain was elevated among SM college students. Future research should examine antecedents and consequences of psychological pain among sexual minority young adults to inform effective interventions for suicide prevention in this high-risk population.

Keywords: College students; LGBTQ+; psychological pain; sexual minority; young adults.