Elevated Psychological Pain and Related Symptoms among Sexual Minority Young Adults

Purpose: Sexual minority young adults experience worse mental health outcomes than heterosexual peers, including increased risk of depression and suicide. Psychological pain may play an important role in this relationship. The present study examines the severity of psychological pain in a large, diverse sample of heterosexual and sexual minority young adults. Methods: Young adults (N = 1481) self-reported sexual orientation and other demographics alongside measures of psychological pain, depression, and loneliness. We used simple and multiple linear regressions to examine sexual minority status, depression, and loneliness as relative predictors of psychological pain. We also examined interactions between sexual minority status and depression and loneliness, to examine if these factors were stronger correlates of psychological pain among sexual minority young adults. Results: Approximately 12.5% of the sample identified as a sexual minority (n = 185). Psychological pain was significantly elevated among sexual minority (M = 27.89, SD = 11.76) versus heterosexual participants (M = 21.55, SD = 9.67), t(219.55) = 6.992, p <.001, g = 0.64. Sexual minority status remained a statistically significant predictor of psychological pain when accounting for depression and loneliness (b = 2.18, SE = 0.58, p <.001). We did not observe interactions between sexual minority status and depression or loneliness in predicting psychological pain. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that psychological pain is elevated among sexual minority young adults, compared to heterosexual peers. This study lays the groundwork for research examining antecedents and consequences of psychological pain among sexual minority young adults to develop more effective interventions to prevent suicide in this high-risk population.