Predicting Self-Esteem, Well-Being, and Distress in a Cohort of Gay Men: The Importance of Cultural Stigma, Personal Visibility, Community Networks, and Positive Identity |
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Authors: | Deborrah E. S. Frable Camilla Wortman Jill Joseph |
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Affiliation: | Harvard University;State University of New York at Stony Brook;University of Michigan |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACT Homosexual and bisexual men (N= 825) enrolled in the Multi-center AIDS Cohort Study in Chicago completed a 90-minute self-administered questionnaire that included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a Well-Being Index, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. Participants indicated their experiences with gay stigma, their visihility as gay men, their involvement in the gay community, and their commitment to a positive gay identity. Data from this predominantly white, young, educated, and tniddle-class cohort are consistent with a structural model in which cultural stigma is negatively asso-ciated with positive self-perceptions. This within-group result contrasts sharply with between group results that indicate our gay cohort was neither particularly low in global self-esteetn nor high in psychological distress when compared to nonstigmatized samples. |
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