(PS6-44) Sexual Orientation, Minority Stress, Attentional Bias to Threat, and Internalizing Psychopathology: A Dot-Probe and Eye-Tracking Study

Abstract Text:

Introduction: Dominant theories of sexual minority mental health suggest that cognitive processing mediates the relationship between minority stress experiences and mental health outcomes. Whereas attentional bias to threat has been extensively explored as a mechanism of the relationship between stressors and psychopathology, this relationship has not been explored in sexual minority populations.

Methods: The dot-probe task (MacLeod et al., 1986) with emotional facial stimuli and an eye tracking device were used to examine differences in attentional bias to threat between sexual minority (n = 55) and heterosexual participants (n = 99), and whether experiences of minority stress significantly predict greater attentional bias to threat in sexual minorities. Mediation analyses were also conducted to determine whether there were significant indirect effects of attentional bias to threat in the relationship between sexual orientation and internalizing symptoms, as well as indirect effects of everyday discrimination in the relationship between sexual orientation and attentional bias to threat. Three indices of attentional bias to threat were utilized: traditional reaction time-based measures, trial-level bias scores (Zvielli et al., 2015), and eye tracking measures (i.e., mean dwell time and proportions of fixations on angry vs. neutral faces).

Results: No significant sexual orientation-based group differences were observed. Similarly, none of the hypothesized indirect effects were observed. Nevertheless, experiences of distal minority stress significantly predicted greater attentional bias to threat in sexual minority participants as measured by traditional reaction time metrics (β = 0.388, p = .040) and trial-level bias scores (β = 0.402, p = .031), but not eye-tracking metrics.

Discussion: These findings provide preliminary evidence for the role of attentional bias to threat in the relationship between sexual minority stress and internalizing symptoms. They further highlight the potential therapeutic impact of interventions that seek to modify cognitive processing (e.g., cognitive control training) to reduce the psychological impact of sexual minority stress. Further research should explore these relationships within sexual and gender minority subgroups, utilizing longitudinal designs to provide greater evidence for causation.