SynthesisJournal of behavioral medicine2020
The relationship between minority stress and biological outcomes: A systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of behavioral medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 176 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
176 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 347 citations in OpenAlex.
- Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among LGBTQ+ Populations: A Systematic Review of Empirical Evidence.Nursing open · 2026Pooled it
- Minority stress in relation to biological outcomes among sexual and gender minority people: a systematic review and update.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Sexual and Gender Minority Stress in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury Engagement: A Meta-Analytic Review.Suicide & life-threatening behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Everyday Sexual and Gender Minority Stress and Health: A Systematic Review of Experience Sampling Studies.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Pooled it
- Post-traumatic stress disorder among LGBTQ people: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Palliative and end-of-life care needs, experiences, and preferences of LGBTQ+ individuals with serious illness: A systematic mixed-methods review.Palliative medicine · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review of the neural correlates of sexual minority stress: towards an intersectional minority mosaic framework with implications for a future research agenda.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Pooled it
- The Legal Vulnerability Model for Same-Sex Parent Families: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review and Theoretical Integration.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Pooled it
- Paradoxical Obesity and Overweight Disparities Among Sexual Minority Men: A Meta-Analysis.American journal of men's healthPooled it
- An Internet-Delivered Intervention to Reduce LGBTQ+ Prejudice Among Romanian Teachers: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR human factors · 2026Trial
- Differential gene expression in response to AWARENESS: A randomized controlled trial of an intersectional minority stress intervention.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2025Trial
- Find your village: co-designing a community asset-based peer support intervention for wellbeing, social connectedness, and early child development among migrant families during the first 1001 days.Global health action · 2026Article
- Identity among adolescent and young adult cancer survivors: an exploratory qualitative study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Discrimination and Disordered Eating in Economically Disadvantaged Adults: A Multilevel, Longitudinal Study.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026Article
- Building pain resilience in LGBTQIA+ individuals.Physical therapy · 2026Article
- Stress Processes and Resilience Pathways of Sexually and Gender Diverse Communities: A Narrative Review of 15 Years of Evolving Research Priorities and Practices.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026Review
- Assessing differences in epigenetic aging markers between sexual or gender minority and straight cisgender adults using the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults cohort.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2026Article
- Pregnancy intentions by sexual orientation among pregnancies across the life course.American journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Real-Time Stress Experiences and Physiological and Psychological Responses Among LGBTQ+ Young Adults: Findings from the Stress and Heart Pilot Study.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
116 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Sexual minority (non-heterosexual) individuals experience higher rates of physical health problems. Minority stress has been the primary explanatory model to account for this disparity. The purpose of this study was to identify in published research empirically established relationships between minority stress processes and biological outcomes and identify avenues for future research. The PubMed database was queried with search terms relevant to minority stress and a comprehensive list of physical and biological outcomes. To be included in the analysis, studies had to examine the relationship between minority stress and a biological outcome among sexual minority individuals. Those meeting inclusion criteria were coded for key variables including methodology used, positive and null results, participant characteristics, and specific minority stress processes and biological outcomes considered. In total, 26 studies met inclusion criteria. Studies tested relationships between specific minority stress processes including prejudice, expectations of prejudice, concealment of sexual orientation, and internalized stigma and multiple biological outcomes, such as overall physical health, immune response, HIV specific outcomes, cardiovascular outcomes, metabolic outcomes, cancer related outcomes, and hormonal outcomes. Studies included both analyses that detected this relationship (42% of analyses) and analyses that did not detect this relationship (58%). There is substantial evidence to support the relationship between minority stress and biological outcomes, yet additional research is needed to identify the measurements and outcomes that have the most rigorous and replicable results.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.