Psychological Distress, Alcohol Misuse and Stigma to Seek Psychological Help in a Community Sample of Sexual Diverse Women of Color

Abstract

Sexual diverse women of color (SDWOC) face significant heightened experiences of discrimination across multiple axes of identity. We sampled 182 SDWOC of Latinx and African American descent to examine factors associated with participants’ self-stigma to seek psychological help. Results indicated that intersectional discrimination across race and sexual orientation was positively associated with self-stigma to seek psychological help. Mediation analyses revealed that psychological distress was not a significant mediator; however, alcohol use disorder partially mediated the relation between intersectional discrimination and self-stigma to seek psychological help. Counselors must consider the role of alcohol use and self-stigma to reduce the treatment gap.

Keywords:

• Discrimination
• help seeking
• intersectionality
• women of color
• WSW