The Mediating Role of Attachment Avoidance in the Association between Sexual Orientation and Mental Health

ABSTRACT

The current study examined whether attachment avoidance mediates the association between being a sexual minority (gay men or lesbian women) and poorer mental health outcomes. For this purpose a community-dwelling sample of 350 gay men and lesbian women (M = 30.39, SD = 6.82) and 445 heterosexual men and women (M = 26.95, SD = 3.11) completed measures of attachment avoidance, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and life satisfaction. Results showed that gay men and lesbians reported poorer mental health. Moreover, attachment avoidance had a mediating effect on the association between being a sexual minority and depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and life satisfaction. These findings are some of the first to suggest empirical support for the role of attachment avoidance in accounting for the mental health vulnerability of gay men and lesbians. The results contribute to a better understanding of the minority stress model and should be addressed by practitioners.

KEYWORDS:

• Mental health
• attachment avoidance
• sexual orientation
• depressive symptoms
• anxiety
• life satisfaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.