Examining Longitudinal Risk and Strengths-Based Factors Associated with Depression Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Men in Canada
Sexual minority men (SMM) experience anti-SMM stressors and have elevated rates of mental health issues compared to heterosexual men, such as depression. Importantly, strengths-based factors may directly increase wellbeing and provide a buffer against the detrimental effects of such stressors. In th...
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| author | Yusuf Ghauri Graham W. Berlin Shayna Skakoon-Sparling Adhm Zahran David J. Brennan Barry D. Adam Trevor A. Hart |
| author_facet | Yusuf Ghauri Graham W. Berlin Shayna Skakoon-Sparling Adhm Zahran David J. Brennan Barry D. Adam Trevor A. Hart |
| author_sort | Yusuf Ghauri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Sexual minority men (SMM) experience anti-SMM stressors and have elevated rates of mental health issues compared to heterosexual men, such as depression. Importantly, strengths-based factors may directly increase wellbeing and provide a buffer against the detrimental effects of such stressors. In the present study, we integrated risk and strengths-based models to examine predictors of depression symptoms in a sample of 465 Canadian SMM across three time points using multilevel modeling. Higher scores on a measure of childhood physical abuse at baseline, and greater within-person (i.e., deviation from individual’s average) and between-person (i.e., deviation from group average) internalized homonegativity and heterosexist discrimination were associated with higher depression scores. Higher within- and between-person scores on measures of self-esteem, social support, and hope were associated with lower depression scores. Social support buffered the effects of between-person heterosexist discrimination on depression symptoms: at mean and high levels of social support, heterosexist discrimination was not associated with depression symptoms. This is the first study to disaggregate between-person and within-person effects of both risk factors and strengths-based factors among SMM, which has critical importance for the development of tailored individual-level interventions that target internalized homonegativity, hope, social support, and self-esteem to alleviate symptoms of depression among SMM. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-78845b9d2af04d5ea2754d8b8e8dd609 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2076-328X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Behavioral Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-78845b9d2af04d5ea2754d8b8e8dd6092025-08-20T03:13:42ZengMDPI AGBehavioral Sciences2076-328X2025-06-0115783910.3390/bs15070839Examining Longitudinal Risk and Strengths-Based Factors Associated with Depression Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Men in CanadaYusuf Ghauri0Graham W. Berlin1Shayna Skakoon-Sparling2Adhm Zahran3David J. Brennan4Barry D. Adam5Trevor A. Hart6Department of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, CanadaFactor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, 27 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 1A1, CanadaDepartment of Sociology and Criminology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, CanadaDepartment of Psychology, Toronto Metropolitan University, 350 Victoria St., Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, CanadaSexual minority men (SMM) experience anti-SMM stressors and have elevated rates of mental health issues compared to heterosexual men, such as depression. Importantly, strengths-based factors may directly increase wellbeing and provide a buffer against the detrimental effects of such stressors. In the present study, we integrated risk and strengths-based models to examine predictors of depression symptoms in a sample of 465 Canadian SMM across three time points using multilevel modeling. Higher scores on a measure of childhood physical abuse at baseline, and greater within-person (i.e., deviation from individual’s average) and between-person (i.e., deviation from group average) internalized homonegativity and heterosexist discrimination were associated with higher depression scores. Higher within- and between-person scores on measures of self-esteem, social support, and hope were associated with lower depression scores. Social support buffered the effects of between-person heterosexist discrimination on depression symptoms: at mean and high levels of social support, heterosexist discrimination was not associated with depression symptoms. This is the first study to disaggregate between-person and within-person effects of both risk factors and strengths-based factors among SMM, which has critical importance for the development of tailored individual-level interventions that target internalized homonegativity, hope, social support, and self-esteem to alleviate symptoms of depression among SMM.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/7/839sexual minority mendepressionminority stresssyndemicsstrengths-based factorsprotective factors |
| spellingShingle | Yusuf Ghauri Graham W. Berlin Shayna Skakoon-Sparling Adhm Zahran David J. Brennan Barry D. Adam Trevor A. Hart Examining Longitudinal Risk and Strengths-Based Factors Associated with Depression Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Men in Canada Behavioral Sciences sexual minority men depression minority stress syndemics strengths-based factors protective factors |
| title | Examining Longitudinal Risk and Strengths-Based Factors Associated with Depression Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Men in Canada |
| title_full | Examining Longitudinal Risk and Strengths-Based Factors Associated with Depression Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Men in Canada |
| title_fullStr | Examining Longitudinal Risk and Strengths-Based Factors Associated with Depression Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Men in Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | Examining Longitudinal Risk and Strengths-Based Factors Associated with Depression Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Men in Canada |
| title_short | Examining Longitudinal Risk and Strengths-Based Factors Associated with Depression Symptoms Among Sexual Minority Men in Canada |
| title_sort | examining longitudinal risk and strengths based factors associated with depression symptoms among sexual minority men in canada |
| topic | sexual minority men depression minority stress syndemics strengths-based factors protective factors |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/15/7/839 |
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