RUI: Disclosing concealable stigmatized identities: An analysis of intraindividual and sociocultural factors predicting stress reactivity and well-being

College Of The Holy Cross, Worcester MA

Investigators

Abstract

Stigmatized individuals experience some of the most formidable health disparities in American society, and prevailing views suggest that these disparities are attributable in part to discrimination. However, growing evidence suggests that individuals living with stigmas that are largely concealable - and who are largely shielded from direct discrimination - also experience similar disparities. The current project examines the possibility that the stress of interpersonal disclosure, a recurrent and unique stressor among people living with concealable stigmatized identities (i.e., socially devalued attributes that cannot readily be seen) may be a primary pathway by which concealable stigmas affect psychological and physical health. Specifically, this research tests whether interpersonal disclosure is stressful and whether individuals' chronic fears of stigmatization and the surrounding community's prejudice exacerbate these stress effects and downstream psychological and physical health. The proposed research will significantly advance the study of individuals living with concealable stigmatized identities, which, as a whole, constitute an understudied population of Americans. This knowledge has the potential to inform intervention and programmatic efforts designed to help individuals living with concealable stigmatized identities to buffer themselves against the effects of social devaluation; policy makers and community stakeholders in their efforts to reduce prejudice; and public health practitioners in their goals to reduce health disparities. As such, the proposed research has the potential to aid in reaching the NSF and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' goal of identifying and ameliorating the psychosocial factors that contribute to health disparities. Research activities outlined in this proposal will also substantially transform the training environment for many of the country's future medical providers and social scientists by providing experiential research and learning opportunities that demonstrates the complex biopsychosocial processes that could affect downstream health disparities.