Psychology Commons^™

Sexual Minority Thriving: Bouncing Beyond Adversity, Debra Crawford

Dissertations

Sexual minority individuals continue to face prejudice and discrimination due to their sexual minority identity. However, despite these negative experiences, many sexual minority individuals display resilience and thrive. Most of the literature on sexual minorities focuses on negative aspects of identifying as a sexual minority, rather than the positive qualities that these individuals possess that allow them to persevere. In a sample of 303 sexual minorities, this dissertation contained two studies. Study one investigated if posttraumatic growth mediated the relationship between resilience and thriving and if identity pride and existential anxiety moderated the relationship between resilience and thriving in a …