BEST Lab Study Identifies Hypervigilance as a Key Mediator of the Longitudinal Relationship Between Stigma and Internalizing Psychopathology Among Sexual Minority Young Adults

Sexual minority (e.g., lesbian, gay, and bisexual) young adults’ persistent experiences of stigmatization may necessitate elevated vigilance for threat-related cues in myriad social interactions and settings. Although such hypervigilance is frequently theorized to contribute to sexual minority young adults’ disproportionate risk for internalizing psychopathology, this possibility had yet to be empirically tested. A new study published in Clinical Psychological Science by BEST Lab doctoral student Nathan Hollinsaid, however, demonstrates that hypervigilance represents an important transdiagnostic mechanism prospectively linking sexual minority young adults’ experiences of discrimination and victimization to symptoms of internalizing psychopathology two years later. Further, the study finds that hypervigilance is not only distinct from the putatively related constructs of sexual orientation-related rejection sensitivity and rumination, but also that it is preceded and predicted by these two stigma-related processes. Findings suggest that existing psychological interventions for sexual minorities may be enhanced by explicitly addressing hypervigilance. 

The study, “Hypervigilance: An Understudied Mediator of the Longitudinal Relationship Between Stigma and Internalizing Psychopathology Among Sexual-Minority Young Adults,” is now available online at Clinical Psychological Science. It was co-authored by Dr. Mark Hatzenbuehler, Dr. Dr. John Pachankis, and Dr. Richard Bränström.  For inquiries, contact Nathan Hollinsaid at nathan_hollinsaid@fas.harvard.edu. Please use the following citation:

Hollinsaid, N. L., Pachankis, J. E., Bränström, R., & Hatzenbuehler, M. L. (2023). Hypervigilance: An understudied mediator of the longitudinal relationship between stigma and internalizing psychopathology among sexual-minority young adults. Clinical Psychological Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026231159050