Spirituality, self-compassion, and anxiety among sexual minority men: a longitudinal mediation analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Research related to anxiety among sexual minority men (SMM) typically focuses on risk factors. It has seldom examined factors that may be associated with lower levels of anxiety. This gap in the literature represents an opportunity to explore positive psychological factors that may be related to lower levels of anxiety among this group. Spirituality and self-compassion are two positive psychological factors that have been associated with reduced anxiety in general samples but have been understudied among SMM. This study aimed to determine the longitudinal associations between spirituality, self-compassion, and anxiety. DESIGN AND METHODS: Guided by an Afrocentric psychological framework, we conducted a secondary quantitative analysis with data from a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 697 U.S. SMM. RESULTS: Utilizing Hayes PROCESS Macro Model 4, we found that spirituality at baseline was positively associated with self-compassion at baseline, which in turn was inversely associated with anxiety at 12-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our findings provide evidence that spirituality and self-compassion are two positive psychological factors that are inversely associated with anxiety among SMM.

"The Awesomeness and the Vastness of Who You Really Are:" A Culturally Distinct Framework for Understanding the Link Between Spirituality and Health for Black Sexual Minority Men.

Despite health inequities, many Black sexual minority men are resilient and often utilize spirituality as a culturally distinct self-protective and self-enhancing resource to maintain their health. However, little is known about how spirituality impacts health within a cultural framework that is specific to Black sexual minority men. We conducted 10 individual in-depth interviews, reaching code saturation, with Black sexual minority men across the USA. Our study was guided by grounded theory and a Black psychology theoretical framework. Seven themes were discovered and revealed that participants' level of spiritual consciousness influenced their engagement in psychological and behavioral processes that were related to mental and physical health. These themes were: (a) suboptimal worldview, (b) emotional revelation, (c) emotional emancipation, (d) emotional regulation, (e) health motivations, (f) health behaviors, and (g) links between spiritual consciousness, mental health, and physical health. Implications of these findings for clinicians and researchers are discussed.

Positive religious coping predicts self-reported HIV medication adherence at baseline and twelve-month follow-up among Black Americans living with HIV in the Southeastern United States.

This paper presents the results of secondary data analyses investigating the influence of religious coping on HIV medication adherence across time among 167 Black Americans living with HIV (BALWH) in the Southeastern United States. Participants were recruited from a large urban clinic in Atlanta, GA and completed questionnaires about their religious coping at baseline assessment and about their medication adherence at baseline and 12-month follow-up assessment. Descriptive analyses and multiple linear regression were used to determine the association between religious coping and HIV medication adherence. Findings indicated that after controlling for age and depressive symptoms at baseline, positive religious coping significantly predicted medication adherence at baseline and 12-month follow-up. Negative religious coping was inversely associated with medication adherence at baseline after controlling for age and depressive symptoms but not at 12-month follow-up. The implications of these findings for future research and intervention work related to medication adherence among BALWH are discussed.