RESEARCH IN THE LAB
CURRENT RESEARCH STUDIES
Gay Community Stress & Community Connectedness
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​Sexual minority men often experience heightened body image concerns and disordered eating, in part due to stressors from within their own community, a phenomenon known as gay community stress. This stress consists of competitive pressures for social and sexual rewards, which can negatively impact mental health. Despite this, sexual minority men may also feel a strong sense of connectedness to other gay and bisexual men in their community, which may offer a buffer against these adverse effects. Our lab is conducting a study examining whether community connectedness can mitigate the role of gay community stress on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating, highlighting the potential for supportive relationships to improve mental health outcomes.
Measurement Invariance of the Gay Community Stress Scale​​
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​Gay community stress posits that reliance on other men for social and sexual rewards, as seen among sexual minority men, can generate unique stressors in the form of masculine, status-related competition for those rewards that in turn challenge mental health. Our lab is conducting a study evaluating the Gay Community Stress Scale's (GCSS) ability to measure these unique stressors across diverse racial and ethnic groups. By assessing the scale’s measurement invariance and its relationship with body dissatisfaction, disordered eating, and related mental health concerns, the study seeks to understand how gay community stress is perceived by and impacts sexual minority men of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
Scoping Review of Gender and Sexual Identity Demographics in Eating Disorder Journals​
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Sexual and gender minority individuals consistently report higher rates of disordered eating compared to their cisgender and heterosexual peers. However, it remains unclear how frequently eating disorder researchers are reporting these demographics. Doing so can address a history of hetero- and cisnormativity that has been present in eating disorder research. Our lab is conducting a scoping review examining the extent to which articles published in four of the most cited eating disorder journals report gender--inclusive of transgender and non-binary identities--and sexual identity of participants. We hope that our findings inform eating disorder researchers to consider collecting and potentially reporting such demographics in future research.
COMPLETED RESEARCH STUDIES
Transgender and Nonbinary Body Appreciation Study
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Research on disordered eating among transgender and nonbinary individuals has largely overlooked the impact of gender identity pride on body appreciation and intuitive eating. This study, involving 148 transgender and nonbinary adults, found that higher gender identity pride was linked to increased body appreciation but did not directly affect intuitive eating. However, body appreciation significantly mediated the relationship between gender identity pride and intuitive eating. These results underscore the importance of gender identity pride in shaping body image and eating behaviors, suggesting that future research should explore its causal effects, and clinicians should consider incorporating gender identity pride in their approaches to body image and eating issues for transgender and non-binary clients.
