(PS7-13) Examining the Impact of Heterosexist Experiences on the Relationship between LGBTQ+ Identity and OC Symptom Dimensions

Abstract Text: Research indicates that there is a higher prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder among LGBTQ+ individuals than among non-LGBTQ+ individuals (Millet et al., 2017; Pelts & Albright, 2015). Compared to heterosexual participants, sexual minority participants have endorsed more unacceptable thoughts (but fewer contamination symptoms) after controlling for traumatic experiences (Pinciotti & Orcutt, 2021). However, no extant research has examined whether similar differences exist when accounting for minority stress experienced by LGBTQ+ individuals. To address this issue, the current study examines whether LGBTQ+ participants report significantly greater obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms than non-LGBTQ+ participants when controlling for self-reported heterosexist experiences.

Participants (n = 217) were Mechanical Turk workers who were at least 18 years old, self-reported sufficient proficiency in English, had at least a 95% rating, and passed one CAPTCHA. Participants identified as LGBTQ+ (n = 107) or non-LGBTQ+ (n = 110) and completed a questionnaire battery that included the Daily Heterosexist Experiences Questionnaire (DHEQ) and the Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS). The following analyses report on all participants with complete data.

One-way ANOVAs tested the relations between LGBTQ+ identity and DOCS subscale scores. Results indicated that LGBTQ+ participants reported significantly higher OC symptoms than did non-LGBTQ+ participants on all DOCS symptom dimensions. These included Contamination (F(1, 207) = 28.01, p < .001, eta squared = .119), Harm (F(1, 203) = 19.50, p < .001, eta squared = .09), Unacceptable Thoughts (F(1, 207) = 26.14, p < .001, eta squared = .11), Symmetry (F(1, 206) = 27.80, p < .001, eta squared = .12), and Scrupulosity/Religious Thoughts (F(1, 209) = 31.06, p < .001, eta squared = .13). Conversely, after controlling for DHEQ total scores, there were no significant differences between the two study groups on any OC symptom dimension. These included Contamination (F(1, 182) = 0.04, p = .84, partial eta squared = .00), Harm (F(1, 177) = 1.79, p = .18, partial eta squared = .01), Unacceptable Thoughts (F(1, 179) = 0.24, p = .63, partial eta squared = .001), Symmetry (F(1, 179) = 0.21, p = .65, partial eta squared = .001), and Scrupulosity/Religious Thoughts (F(1, 181) = 0.01, p = .91, partial eta squared = .00).

These results reveal that the observed, significant differences between LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ participants on OC symptoms could be accounted for by participants’ heterosexist experiences, such as experiencing rejection, harassment, discrimination, or victimization based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. Such a finding highlights the importance of mitigating heterosexist experiences to reduce the extent to which the LGBTQ+ community is disproportionately burdened by OC symptoms. Future research should examine ways to decrease LGBTQ+ stigma and promote protective factors that reduce the impact of heterosexist experiences on LGBTQ+ individuals.