Mental health and psychopathology burden in German-speaking individuals identifying as LGBTIQA*

Mental health is a crucial factor for life satisfaction and functioning. The World Health Organization defines mental health as "a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community" (WHO, 2005; 2018). Several studies have, therefore, examined mental health and its associated factors. However, evidence of the mental health of societal minorities is limited. This is also the case for people that are non-normative regarding their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex. We use the abbreviation LGBTIQA* (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, inter*, queer, asexual and other) for this societal group. Meta-analytic findings showed that LGBTIQA* people experience significantly more psychopathology like depressive or anxious symptoms, suicidal ideation or self-harm in comparison to heteronormative samples (Dürrbaum & Sattler, 2020; Liu et al., 2019; Ross et al., 2018; Semlyen et al., 2016). Studies further indicated that this trend is stable over time. Meyer (2003) developed the minority stress model to explain this association. It describes that the sexual orientation, gender identity and/or sex of a person does not directly lead to psychopathological symptoms, but is mediated by group-specific stress factors. This path is widely supported (Dürrbaum & Sattler, 2020; Fulginiti et al., 2020; Zehen et al., 2017). The current research of mental health in individuals identifying as LGBTIQA* has several problems: (1) Most of the research was conducted in the U.S. or Great Britain, which limits its generalizability. (2) Mental health is often defined as the absence or presence of psychopathology only, while positive mental health constructs and their predictors are neglected. (3) Longitudinal studies of mental health in this specific population are scarce. Therefore, this planed study will raise both positive mental health and burden associated to psychopathology in a large German-speaking sample (Austria, Germany, Switzerland). Moreover, predictors of both mental health and psychopathology will be analyzed cross-sectionally and in a three-years episode. The study and all coworkers are affiliated at the Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Universität Witten/Herdecke (Germany).