Vigilance Within the LGBTQ+ Community and its Effect on Mental Wellbeing

Background: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer people experience a disproportionately high level of mental health problems. Various social and psychological phenomena have been used to account for this, notably the presence of structural stigma and lack of social support. However, underexplored empirically are more proximate factors that might account for relatively low levels of mental wellbeing amongst sexual and gender minority people. Methods: Using survey data generated from the UK HomeSAFE project sample (n=158), we fit Structural Equation Models to test the role that vigilance plays in determining levels of mental wellbeing. Results: Even after adjusting for covariates including social support, our findings suggest that sexual and gender minority people demonstrating heightened states of vigilance also suffer from lower levels of reported mental wellbeing. Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of further research into the everyday, subjectively experienced factors that are cognitively and emotionally burdensome for marginalised groups.