Examining the Prospective Effects of Alexithymia and Minority Stress on Emotion Regulation in Sexual Minority Adults

Sexual minority (SM) populations demonstrate greater emotion regulation (ER) difficulties, which are hypothesized to arise from experiences of minority stress. While little is known under which conditions minority stressors may affect ER abilities in SM individuals, previous literature suggests that alexithymia may disrupt ER. Thus, the present study examined the prospective main and interaction effects of SM stressors and alexithymia on ER. SM adults (N = 392) provided baseline and 1-month follow-up reports of SM stressors, alexithymia, and ER. There were significant interaction effects between alexithymia and both heterosexist discrimination and sexual orientation concealment on cognitive reappraisal. Namely, at high levels of alexithymia, sexual orientation concealment and heterosexist discrimination predicted declines in cognitive reappraisal. There were no significant interaction effects between SM stressors and alexithymia on changes in expressive suppression; however, greater internalized stigma and sexual orientation concealment were associated with increases in expressive suppression. Taken together, our findings and theory may suggest that it is critical to address alexithymia in SM clients prior to targeting ER difficulties as alexithymia may disrupt or impede adaptive ER.