(PS6-8) Associations Between Racial/ethnic Discrimination and Internalizing Symptomatology: The Moderating Role of Alexithymia

Abstract Text: Sexual minority people of color (SM-POC) experience varying mental health risks due to their intersecting marginalized identities. Minority stress theory posits that identity-related stressors, such as racial/ethnic discrimination, increase vulnerability to adverse mental health outcomes, particularly internalizing disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, self-injurious behavior). However, less is known about how individual-level factors, such as alexithymia, may modulate the adverse effects of racial/ethnic discrimination in SM-POC. Alexithymia is characterized by difficulty in identifying and expressing emotions and has been linked to elevated internalizing symptomatology. Given that alexithymia symptoms on average are pronounced in racial/ethnic minority groups, the present study examined the moderating effect of alexithymia on the relation between discrimination and internalizing symptoms in SM-POC populations. Two hundred eighty-seven SM-POC adults (Mage=28.75, SD=8.46) from Prolific Academic, representing Black (33.4%), Asian (29.3%), Latinx (23.0%), Multiracial (12.2%), and Indigenous American (2.1%) backgrounds. Most participants identified as bisexual (67.9%) with balanced gender representation (49.1% men, 50.9% women). Participants completed self-report measures of racial/ethnic discrimination (General Ethnic Discrimination Scale; Landrine et al., 2006), alexithymia (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-18; Gratz & Roemer, 2004), and internalizing symptoms (Suicide Behavior Questionnaire-Revised [SBQ-R]; Osman et al., 2001; Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale [DASS-21]; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995; Eating Pathology Symptom Inventory [EPSI]; Forbush et al., 2013). Hierarchical linear regression revealed significant main effects of gender, racial/ethnic discrimination, alexithymia, and emotion regulation difficulties on internalizing symptoms (ps <.007). Notably, a significant interaction emerged (b <.01, p=.018), such that racial/ethnic discrimination was unrelated to internalizing symptoms at low alexithymia levels (b <.01, p=.255) but significantly associated at high alexithymia levels (b=.01, p<.001). These findings highlight alexithymia as a critical transdiagnostic individual factor for SM-POC experiencing discrimination, amplifying the internalization of distressing experiences. Consistent with the minority stress theory, our results suggest that individuals with heightened difficulty processing emotions may struggle to contextualize or mitigate the psychological effects of racial/ethnic discrimination, which may increase their risk for internalizing symptoms. Clinically, these findings underscore the importance of tailoring affirming mental health interventions to address alexithymia and emotional processing deficits in marginalized communities. Future research should explore culturally-responsive therapeutic models aimed at enhancing emotion recognition and regulation among SM-POC populations exposed to discrimination and test if our findings hold up longitudinally.