Heterosexist events and psychological problems: internalized homophobia as a mediator and perceived parental support as a moderator

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Past research focusing on Western samples has demonstrated that heterosexist harassment, rejection, and discrimination (HHRD) were associated with psychological problems. How and when this relation would occur, however, remains unclear, especially for understudied Chinese sexual minorities. Method: A convenience sample of 1,453 Chinese lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals aged 18–50 participated in this study. They provided demographic information and completed measures of HHRD, internalised homophobia, perceived parental support for sexual orientation, anxiety, and depression. Structural equation modelling was conducted for data analyses. Results: Internalised homophobia partially accounted for the positive relation between HHRD and psychological problems (i.e. anxiety and depression). The indirect effect of HHRD on psychological problems through internalised homophobia was smaller when Chinese LGB persons had higher levels of perceived parental support for sexual orientation. Conclusions: Internalised homophobia might be an underlying mechanism for the relation between HHRD and psychological problems, and perceived parental support for sexual orientation may play a critical role in disrupting the pathway from HHRD to psychological problems through internalised homophobia.

KEYWORDS:

• Heterosexist events
• internalised homophobia
• perceived parental support for sexual orientation
• anxiety
• depression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2023.2209574

Additional information

Funding

There is no funding resource involved in this study.