Affectionate Communication Mediates the Effects of Minority Stress on Mental Wellness for LGBTQIA+ Adults

Abstract

As a prosocial behavior, affectionate communication evidences a stress-buffering effect, ameliorating the deleterious effects of stressors on stress. Although much previous research has documented such an effect on physiological stress reactivity, the present study examines the ability of trait-level affectionate communication to mediate the effect of minority stress on mental wellness for LGBTQIA+ adults. Using a sample of U.S. American LGBTQIA+ adults (N = 494), this project demonstrates that psychological stress and depressive symptoms are negatively associated with trait affectionate communication and that trait affectionate communication partially mediates the effect of minority stress on these outcomes.