Religious Identity Dissonance: Examining the Path of Religious Factors to Depression in Sexual Minority Men in the USA

Jeremy J Gibbs; Jay O'Shields; Ryan DeVane; Anna Purcell

doi:10.1007/s10943-024-02025-4

Religious Identity Dissonance: Examining the Path of Religious Factors to Depression in Sexual Minority Men in the USA

J Relig Health. 2024 Mar 22. doi: 10.1007/s10943-024-02025-4. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jeremy J Gibbs¹, Jay O'Shields², Ryan DeVane², Anna Purcell²

Affiliations

¹ School of Social Work, University of Georgia, 279 Williams Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA. jeremy.gibbs@uga.edu.
² School of Social Work, University of Georgia, 279 Williams Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.

PMID: 38517583
DOI: 10.1007/s10943-024-02025-4

Abstract

Little is known about the religious factors that contribute to religious identity dissonance (ID) for sexual minority men. Our aim was to model the path of religious factors to depression symptoms through ID and internalized stigma (IS). US sexual minority men (N = 168) participated in a survey about religious factors and mental health. Serial mediation of religious factors through ID and IS to depression symptoms was assessed using Hayes PROCESS macro. Results indicate that two religious factors significantly increase depression through ID and IS. Negative parental religious messages about LGBTQ people play a meaningful role in ID and increasing depression.

Keywords: Depression; Identity dissonance; Religiosity; Sexual minority; Stigma.