Relations Between Sexual and Gender Minority Stress, Personal Hardiness, and Psychological Stress in Emerging Adulthood: Examining Indirect Effects via Human-animal Interaction

• Published in: Youth & Society Vol. 54; no. 2; pp. 240 - 261
• Main Authors: McDonald, Shelby E., Murphy, Jennifer L., Tomlinson, Camie A., Matijczak, Angela, Applebaum, Jennifer W., Wike, Traci L., Kattari, Shanna K.
• Format: Book Review Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-03-2022; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adults; Animal human relations; Animals; Bootstrap method; Coping; Ethnic groups; Gender; Gender relations; Hardiness; Indirect effects; Late Adolescents; LGBTQ People; Life transitions; Microaggressions; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority Groups; Psychological distress; Psychological Patterns; Resilience (Psychology); Social Bias; Social Support Groups; Stress; Stress Variables; Structural equation modeling; Transgender persons; Urban Areas; Victims; minority stress; microaggressions; LGBTQ; victimization; resilience; companion animals; coping
• ISSN: 0044-118X; 1552-8499
• DOI: 10.1177/0044118X21990044

This study examines the role of human-animal interaction (HAI) in relations between sexual and gender minority (SGM) stress, personal hardiness, and psychological stress during emerging adulthood. Data for the current sample reflect 136 SGM emerging adults between the ages of 18 to 21 years who reported living with a companion animal in the past year (37.5% racial/ethnic minority, 49.2% transgender or gender -expansive, 98.5% sexual minority). Mediation was tested using structural equation modeling with a bootstrapping approach. We found evidence of an indirect effect of microaggressions on personal hardiness. Specifically, increases in microaggressions were associated with increases in HAI; in turn, increases in HAI were associated with higher levels of personal hardiness. No other statistically significant indirect effects were identified in our model. We discuss the implications of these findings for enhancing community capacity to empower and facilitate successful coping among SGM emerging adults.