Personality, coping and mental health among lesbian, gay, and bisexual community members

Abstract

The present study makes one of the first attempts to integrate personality, coping and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community members. Specifically, active (i.e., seeking social support, stopping unpleasant emotions, problem-focused coping/solving, and education/advocacy) and passive (i.e., internalization, substance use, and detachment) coping styles were hypothesized to mediate the association of personality traits and mental health symptoms (i.e., depressive, anxiety and general distress symptoms). Participants consisted of 336 LGB outpatients from an urban community health clinic in the southwestern United States. Results demonstrated that: (1) passive coping mediated the relationship between Neuroticism and mental health symptoms, (2) both active and passive coping mediated the extraversion-mental health symptoms association, and (3) significant mediation emerged via active coping for the association of conscientiousness and mental health symptoms. Implications are discussed for clinical practice with LGB persons, and the integration of personality, coping and mental health theory and research.