Living With a Concealable Stigmatized Identity: The Impact of AnticipatedStigma, Centrality, Salience, and Cultural Stigma on PsychologicalDistress and Health

摘要

The current research provides a framework for understanding how concealable stigmatized identitiesimpact people's psychological well-being and health. The authors hypothesize that increased anticipatedstigma, greater centrality of the stigmatized identity to the self, increased salience of the identity, andpossession of a stigma that is more strongly culturally devalued all predict heightened psychologicaldistress. In Study 1, the hypotheses were supported with a sample of 300 participants who possessed 13different concealable stigmatized identities. Analyses comparing people with an associative stigma tothose with a personal stigma showed that people with an associative stigma report less distress and thatthis difference is fully mediated by decreased anticipated stigma, centrality, and salience. Study 2 soughtto replicate the findings of Study 1 with a sample of 235 participants possessing concealable stigmatizedidentities and to extend the model to predicting health outcomes. Structural equation modeling showedthat anticipated stigma and cultural stigma were directly related to self-reported health outcomes.Discussion centers on understanding the implications of intraindividual processes (anticipated stigma,identity centrality, and identity salience) and an external process (cultural devaluation of stigmatizedidentities) for mental and physical health among people living with a concealable stigmatized identity.