Minority Stress and Mental Health in Italian Bisexual People

Cristiano Scandurra,Roberto Vitelli,Vincenzo Bochicchio,Concetta Esposito,Fabrizio Mezza,Nelson Mauro Maldonato,Andrea Pennasilico,Anna Lisa Amodeo

doi:10.3390/socsci9040046

Cristiano Scandurra, Roberto Vitelli + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9040046

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Abstract

Bisexual people are a strongly stigmatized population experiencing health disparities caused by social stigmatization. The predominant framework helping to understand these health disparities and the impact of stigma on mental health of social groups belonging to a sexual minority identity constitutes the minority stress theory. In Italy, studies assessing this model in bisexual populations are very limited. Within this framework, the current study aimed at assessing in 381 Italian bisexual individuals (62 men and 319 women) the effects of anti-bisexual discrimination, proximal stressors (i.e., anticipated binegativity, internalized binegativity, and outness), and resilience on psychological distress. The results suggested that only anti-bisexual discrimination and internalized binegativity were positively associated with psychological distress, and that resilience was negatively associated with mental health issues. Furthermore, the results suggested that internalized binegativity mediated the relationship between anti-bisexual discrimination and mental health problems. No moderating effect of resilience was found. This is the first study to have thoroughly applied minority stress in Italian bisexual people, providing Italian clinicians and researchers with an outline of the associations between minority stress, stigma, resilience, and psychological distress within this population.

Highlights

Bisexuality may be defined as “the potential to be attracted—romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree” (Eisner 2013)
We found that anti-bisexual discrimination and internalized binegativity were positively associated with psychological distress and that resilience was negatively linked to mental health issues
Informed by MST and PMF, the current study explored the relationships between minority stressors, resilience, and psychological distress in a group of Italian bisexual individuals

Summary

Introduction

Bisexuality may be defined as “the potential to be attracted—romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree” (Eisner 2013). Estimated that 1.8% of the US population (2.2% of women and 1.4% of men) self-identifies as bisexual, and that in other countries (Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and Norway) bisexual population ranges from 0.5% to 1.2%. These estimates may be even larger, as they were performed on single population-based surveys (Feinstein and Dyar 2017). In Italy, that is the context of the current study, the only demographic study was performed by the National Institute of Statistic (2011), which reported that, among 7725 Italian people ranged in age from 18 to 74 years old, 2.4% of the sample declared to be gay or bisexual. This study did not disaggregate gay and bisexual people

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