Predicting self-esteem, well-being, and distress in a cohort of gay men: the importance of cultural stigma, personal visibility, community networks, and positive identity.

ABSTRACT Homosexual and bisexual men (N= 825) enrolled in the Multi-center AIDS Cohort Study in Chicago completed a 90-minute self-administered questionnaire that included the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, a Well-Being Index, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. Participants indicated their experiences with gay stigma, their visihility as gay men, their involvement in the gay community, and their commitment to a positive gay identity. Data from this predominantly white, young, educated, and tniddle-class cohort are consistent with a structural model in which cultural stigma is negatively asso-ciated with positive self-perceptions. This within-group result contrasts sharply with between group results that indicate our gay cohort was neither particularly low in global self-esteetn nor high in psychological distress when compared to nonstigmatized samples.