Minority Stress and Drinking: Connecting Race, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

Abstract

We carried out a constructivist grounded theory-based qualitative exploration on the relations between intersectional minority stress and drinking among a community sample of 20 Latinx and African American sexual minority, gender expansive women. Our overarching goal was to illuminate the nuanced ways in which participants’ lived experiences; in relation to race and ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation, intersected to create complex forms of minority stress rarely captured in the research literature. Semi-structured interviews and lifeline methodology were employed to assess participants’ major life stressors and drinking history; particularly, when and how drinking became a regular part of participants’ lives. Our findings indicated that drinking was primarily connected to same-sex romantic partnerships, cultural and familial ties to alcohol, social norms within queer spaces, familial rejection and loss of racial and ethnic community, and chronic stress. Recommendations for research, practice, advocacy, education, and training are discussed.