Psychological distress among sexual and religious minorities: An examination of power and privilege

Following intersectionality theory, this study was guided by the question of what is the influence of sexual identity, religious identity, and their intersection on mental health vis-à-vis power and privilege? Analyses of 64,271 participants from the Collegiate Center for Mental Health 2013–2014 database indicated that individuals identifying as heterosexual reported the least amount of psychological distress, followed by individuals identifying as gay/lesbian, bisexual, questioning, and sexual minority/other. Individuals identifying as Judeo-Christian reported less psychological distress than did individuals identifying with non-dominant religions or who were religiously unaffiliated. There was no interaction effect between sexual and religious identities.