Unhealthy closets, discriminatory dwellings: The mental health benefits and costs of being open about one's sexual minority status

Alexandra Suppes, Jojanneke van der Toorn and Christopher T. Begeny

Social Science & Medicine, 2021, vol. 285, issue C

Abstract: With a concealable stigmatized identity, sexual minorities not only face discrimination but the burden of deciding when to be open about their sexuality. What are the mental health costs and benefits to openness about sexual minority status? On the one hand, openness fosters integration within the LGBTQ + community (yielding downstream benefits), but it also heightens perceptions of discrimination towards oneself and the group at large (yielding downstream costs for mental health).

Keywords: Sexual minorities; LGBT; Mental health; Wellbeing; Concealment; Stigma (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114286

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