Minority stress describes high levels of stress faced by members of stigmatized minority groups. It may be caused by a number of factors, including poor social support and low socioeconomic status; well understood causes of minority stress are interpersonal prejudice and discrimination. Indeed, numerous scientific studies have shown that when minority individuals experience a high degree of prejudice, this can cause stress responses (e.g., high blood pressure, anxiety) that accrue over time, eventually leading to poor mental and physical health. Minority stress theory summarizes these scientific studies to explain how difficult social situations lead to chronic stress and poor health among minority individuals.
Theoretical development
Emergence Over the past three decades, social scientists have found that minority individuals suffer from mental and physical health disparities compared to their peers in majority groups. This research has focused primarily on racial and sexual minorities. For example, Black Americans have been found to suffer elevated rates of hypertension compared to whites. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals face higher rates of suicide, substance abuse, and cancer relative to non-queer people. More recent data suggest the association of minority stressors with higher rates of migraine headaches, stroke, and functional neurological disorder among LGBTQ+ people. Newer hypotheses propose that intersections of multiple minority stigmata increase experiences of stress. Researchers have also suggested that the LGBTQ+ community itself may be a source of minority stress for sexual minority men.
Social selection hypothesis One causal explanation for minority health disparities is the social selection hypothesis, which holds that there is something inherent to being in a minority group (e.g., genetics) that makes individuals susceptible to health problems. In general, this view has not been supported by empirical research. Instead, research suggests that environmental factors explain minority health disparities better than do genetic factors. While the social selection hypothesis is still debated, it is clear that genetic and dispositional factors do not fully explain the health disparities observed in minority groups.
Social causation hypothesis A second hypothesis regarding the causes of minority health disparities suggests that minority group members face difficult social situations that lead to poor health. This hypothesis has received broad empirical support. Indeed, social psychologists have long recognized that minority individuals have different social experiences compared to majority individuals, including prejudice and discrimination, unequal socioeconomic status, and limited access to health care. According to the social causation hypothesis, such difficult social experiences explain health differences between minority and majority individuals.
Overview of minority stress theory Minority stress theory extends the social causation hypothesis by suggesting that social situations do not lead directly to poor health for minority individuals, but that difficult social situations cause stress for minority individuals, which accrues over time, resulting in long-term health deficits. When being applied to sexual and gender minorities, the term minority stress first appeared in the 1981 book Minority Stress in Lesbian Women by Virginia Rae Brooks, later known as Winn Kelly Brooks. Minority Stress Theory, as it is currently referenced, was coined by Illan Meyer in his 1995 research study "Minority stress and mental health in gay men.". Meyer's version of minority stress theory distinguishes between distal and proximal stress processes. Distal stress processes are external to the minority individual, including experiences with rejection, prejudice, and discrimination. Proximal stress processes are internal, and are often the byproduct of distal stressors; they include concealment of one's minority identity, vigilance and anxiety about prejudice, and negative feelings about one's own minority group. Together, distal and proximal stressors accrue over time, leading to chronically high levels of stress that cause poor health outcomes. Thus, minority stress theory has three primary tenets:
Minority status leads to increased exposure to distal stressors. Minority status leads to increased exposure to proximal stressors, due to distal stressors. Minority individuals suffer adverse health outcomes, which are caused by exposure to proximal and distal stressors. These three tenets of the minority stress theory have been tested in over 134 empirical studies, most of which examined racial and sexual minority populations. Generally, the studies have confirmed that difficult social situations are associated with stress among minority individuals, and that minority stress helps to explain health disparities.
Evidence of key concepts
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