Early relational exclusion and present-day minority stress, social anxiety, and coping responses among sexual minority men

Drawing from minority stress theory, research on ostracism, and the communication of exclusion, this study had two goals. First, we aimed to test how perceptions of early relational exclusion relate to current-day minority stress, coping strategies, and social anxiety among young sexual minority men. Second, we aimed to test the reciprocal within-person associations between present-day minority stress, coping strategies, and social anxiety over a three-month period. Based on a three-wave longitudinal dataset of sexual minority men (N = 254), we tested the hypotheses using a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM). RI-CLPMs partition variance at the between-person (i.e., mean level differences across participants) and within-person (i.e., intra-individual change from typical levels over time) levels, while also allowing for associations between current and past experiences through the inclusion of a person-level (time-invariant) predictor. Findings indicated that perception of early relational exclusion (at the between-person level) is positively associated with present-day reports of minority stress, maladaptive coping, and social anxiety. Further, in addition to between-person associations among minority stress, maladaptive coping, and social anxiety, model results indicated a within-person longitudinal association between maladaptive coping and social anxiety. As discussed, this study advances theory on minority stress from a relational communication lens, and has implications for practitioners working with sexual minority youth.