SynthesisPsychological bulletin2020
Sexual orientation concealment and mental health: A conceptual and meta-analytic review.
Synthesis in Psychological bulletin, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 140 papers, 6 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
140 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 399 citations in OpenAlex.
- Social support and internalizing psychopathology among sexual and gender minority individuals: A meta-analysis.Clinical psychology review · 2026Pooled it
- The Perspectives and Experiences of Older LGBTI+ Adults About Long-Term Care: A Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis.The Gerontologist · 2025Pooled it
- State of the Science of Structural Stigma and LGBTQ+ Health: Meta-Analytic Evidence, Research Gaps, and Future Directions.Annual review of public health · 2025Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of interpersonal discrimination and health-related behaviors.Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association · 2022Pooled 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
- An integrated HIV and chronic disease intervention to reduce HIV infection risk among older men who have sex with men in China: a randomized controlled trial.BMC public health · 2026Trial
- Toward a mechanistic understanding of LGBTQ-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy: Testing treatment mediators in a randomized controlled trial with young gay and bisexual men.Behaviour research and therapy · 2026Trial
- Guided internet-based LGBTQ-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy: A randomized controlled trial among sexual minority men in China.Behaviour research and therapy · 2024Trial
- LGBQ-affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy for young gay and bisexual men's mental and sexual health: A three-arm randomized controlled trial.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2022Trial
- Discrimination and alcohol problems among heavy drinking HIV-positive men who have sex with men: The buffering effect of a brief Motivational Intervention to reduce alcohol use.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Trial
- Efficacy of a Family-Based Intervention for HIV Prevention with Hispanic Adolescents with Same Gender Sexual Behaviors.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2022Trial
- Coming out under fire: The role of minority stress and emotion regulation in sexual orientation disclosure.PloS one · 2022Trial
- More Attractive, More Heterosexual, Less Sexual? Perceptions of People with Physical Disabilities Across Observer Sex and Sexual Orientation.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance of the sexual orientation concealment scale among nonbinary LGBTQ+ adults.Psychology and sexuality · 2026Article
- Family-Based Discrimination, Non-disclosure of Sexual Orientation or Gender identity, and Initiation of Oral Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Among Adolescents.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Source of Strength and Relational Catalyst Support: Pathways to Personal Growth and Thriving Among Sexually and Gender-Diverse Young Adults.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- "I'm Going to Do Everything I Can to Keep You From Having to Interact With the Police": Queer Therapists' Perceptions of Police.Journal of marital and family therapy · 2026Article
- Associations between sexual minority and intraminority stressors and thinness- and muscularity-oriented eating and body image disturbances in sexual minoritized men: Variable-centered, person-centered, and network analyses.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2026Article
- A Preregistered, Prospective, Longitudinal Examination of the Impact of Self-Initiated Sexual Orientation Change Efforts on Health and Changes in Sexuality.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
80 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
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Identity concealment affects all sexual minority individuals, with potentially complex mental health implications. Concealing a sexual minority identity can simultaneously generate the stress of hiding, protect against the stress of discrimination, and keep one apart from sexual minority communities and their norms and supports. Not surprisingly, existing studies of the association between sexual orientation concealment and mental health problems show contradictory associations-from positive to negative to null. This meta-analysis attempts to resolve these contradictions. Across 193 studies (
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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.