Understanding Risk and Resilience for Sexual Minority Emerging Adults: a Longitudinal Outlook on Minority Stress, Mental Health, and Academic Perseverance

Mental health symptoms are highly prevalent during emerging adulthood. During that developmental stage, some subgroups are at even higher risk of experiencing adjustment difficulties. Sexual minority emerging adults are more vulnerable to such difficulties than their heterosexual peers. The minority stress framework (Meyer, Psychol Sex Orientat Gend Divers 1:3–26, 2013) has been developed in order to provide insight on the greater risk of mental health symptoms that sexual minority emerging adults face, yet no theoretical model has explored simultaneously and longitudinally the different adjustment difficulties they face. Inspired by Meyer’s (Psychol Sex Orientat Gend Divers 1:3–26, 2013) framework, the present study aims to understand the specific personal and environmental risk and protective factors associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms and with academic difficulties experienced by sexual minority emerging adults.