Minority stress is the experience of stressors that are specific to people in the LGBTQIA+ community, including:

  • Experience of discrimination and rejection
  • Feelings of shame and self-devaluation
  • Awareness of prejudice in society

These stressors lead to risk-taking behaviours as a coping mechanism, and poor health outcomes.93An examination of demographic characteristics, components of sexuality and gender, and minority stress as predictors of excessive alcohol, cannabis, and illicit (noncannabis) drug use among a large sample of transgender people in the United States - PMC (nih.gov)