Spirituality, Self-compassion, and Anxiety Among Sexual Minority Men: A Longitudinal Mediation Analysis

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-3-2022

Publication Title

Anxiety, Stress, & Coping

DOI

10.1080/10615806.2022.2033235

Abstract

Background and Objective

Research related to anxiety among sexual minority men (SMM) typically focuses on risk factors. It has seldom examined factors that may be associated with lower levels of anxiety. This gap in the literature represents an opportunity to explore positive psychological factors that may be related to lower levels of anxiety among this group. Spirituality and self-compassion are two positive psychological factors that have been associated with reduced anxiety in general samples but have been understudied among SMM. This study aimed to determine the longitudinal associations between spirituality, self-compassion, and anxiety.

Design and Methods

Guided by an Afrocentric psychological framework, we conducted a secondary quantitative analysis with data from a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 697 U.S. SMM.

Results

Utilizing Hayes PROCESS Macro Model 4, we found that spirituality at baseline was positively associated with self-compassion at baseline, which in turn was inversely associated with anxiety at 12-month follow-up.

Conclusions

Overall, our findings provide evidence that spirituality and self-compassion are two positive psychological factors that are inversely associated with anxiety among SMM.

Comments

Georgia Southern University faculty member, Stacy Smallwood co-authored Spirituality, Self-compassion, and Anxiety Among Sexual Minority Men: A Longitudinal Mediation Analysis.

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