Unpacking the Roles of Psychological Distress and Social Well-Being in Minority Stress: Everyday Discrimination and Life Satisfaction among Sexual- and Gender-Minority Adults

While many sexual- and gender-minority adults experience significant rates of everyday discrimination, less is known about how it shapes life satisfaction and the psychosocial mechanisms involved. Using three waves of nationwide data on 612 sexual- and gender-minority adults in the United States from the <i>Generations</i> study, we analyzed the relationships between everyday discrimination, psychological distress, social well-being, and life satisfaction. Structural equation modeling was conducted in R to test separate and chain mediation models. Everyday discrimination (T1) is significantly related to life satisfaction (T3) (β = ‒0.226, <i>p</i> = 0.019, 95% CI: [-0.414, -0.039]). In two separate mediation models, psychological distress (T2) mediates the relationship between everyday discrimination (T1) and life satisfaction (T3) (β = ‒0.084, <i>p</i> = 0.004, 95% CI: [-0.14, -0.027]). Social well-being (T2) also mediates this relationship (β = ‒0.034, <i>p</i> = 0.034, 95% CI: [-0.065, -0.003]). In the chain mediation model, social well-being is a preceding indicator of psychological distress and life satisfaction (β = ‒0.012, <i>p</i> = 0.043, 95% CI: [-0.023, -0.0004]). These findings suggest that social well-being is a proximal indicator that both reflects and transmits the effects of minority stress to worse mental health and well-being. Future research is recommended to position social well-being more centrally to examine its protective role in the impacts of minority stress.