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Concept
Minority stress
Summary
Minority stress describes high levels of stress faced by members of stigmatized minority groups. It may be caused by a number of factors, including poor social support and low socioeconomic status; well understood causes of minority stress are interpersonal prejudice and discrimination. Indeed, numerous scientific studies have shown that when minority individuals experience a high degree of prejudice, this can cause stress responses (e.g., high blood pressure, anxiety) that accrue over time, eventually leading to poor mental and physical health. Minority stress theory summarizes these scientific studies to explain how difficult social situations lead to chronic stress and poor health among minority individuals.
Over the past three decades, social scientists have found that minority individuals suffer from mental and physical health disparities compared to their peers in majority groups. This research has focused primarily on racial and sexual minorities. For example, Black Americans have been found to suffer elevated rates of hypertension compared to whites. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals face higher rates of suicide, substance abuse, and cancer relative to non-queer people. More recent data suggest the association of minority stressors with higher rates of migraine headaches, stroke, and functional neurological disorder among LGBTQ+ people. Newer hypotheses propose that intersections of multiple minority stigmata increase experiences of stress.
One causal explanation for minority health disparities is the social selection hypothesis, which holds that there is something inherent to being in a minority group (e.g., genetics) that makes individuals susceptible to health problems. In general, this view has not been supported by empirical research. Instead, research suggests that environmental factors explain minority health disparities better than do genetic factors. While the social selection hypothesis is still debated, it is clear that genetic and dispositional factors do not fully explain the health disparities observed in minority groups.
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