Personal Justice Beliefs, Everyday Discrimination, and Carotid Intima Media Thickness in Sexual Minority Men

Objective: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) disproportionately affects sexual minority men (SMM) and is linked to discrimination-related stress. Belief in a just world-including the belief that one personally gets what one deserves (personal justice beliefs)-is a coping strategy that can protect against discrimination-related stress and CVD risk. Here, we examine links between personal justice beliefs, perceived everyday discrimination, and carotid intima media thickness (cIMT)-a measure of atherosclerosis that can indicate subclinical CVD. Method: Sexual minority White (29%) and racial minority (African American 18.8%, mixed/other 44.9%) male young adults (N = 69) completed measures of personal justice beliefs and everyday discrimination. cIMT imaging was used to compute common carotid artery (CCA) intima media thickness. Results: Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed associations between justice beliefs, perceived discrimination, and cIMT that were moderated by age. Consistent with prior research, personal justice beliefs predicted less perceived discrimination, especially among older SMM. However, personal justice beliefs were also linked to greater rather than less CCA among older SMM. Conclusions: Relationships between believing in justice and CVD may be complex among minority groups. Among SMM, the belief in personal justice may reduce perceived discrimination, but may be simultaneously deleteriously associated with biological processes that underlie CVD. Public Significance Statement Sexual minority men (SMM) are at increased risk for experiencing stress from discrimination and cardiovascular disease. This study highlights that coping with stress by believing the world is fair to oneself (personal justice beliefs) may provide SMM with mixed benefits. Although personal justice beliefs are associated with lower reported discrimination, they may be simultaneously associated with higher subclinical atherosclerosis, highlighting complex effects of believing in justice for SMM.