Typologies of Minority Stressors and Depressive Symptoms among LGBTQ Employees in the Workplace: A Moderated Mediation Model of Workplace Climate and Resilience

The pathways between minority stressors and depressive symptoms require a nuanced understanding of how these stressors affect the mental health of sexual and gender minority people. It remains unclear whether minority stressors are associated with depressive symptoms through perception of workplace climate and if resilience moderates these effects.

This study examined the direct and indirect effects of different minority stressors (experiences of discrimination, internalized homophobia, expectations of rejection, and concealment of identity) on depressive symptoms through the mediating factor of perception of workplace climate and the moderating factor of resilience. Chinese lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ) employees (N = 706) completed a cross-sectional online survey in 2021–2022. We examined the moderated mediating effects using PROCESS macro with a bootstrapping approach.

Mediation results showed that the four minority stressors were each negatively associated with perceptions of workplace climate, which were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms among Chinese LGBTQ employees. Moderated mediation models demonstrated that the conditional indirect effects of different types of minority stressors on depressive symptoms through perception of workplace climate were only significant for those with lower levels of resilience.

Extending the minority stress model to work settings, this study offers new knowledge about the mediating role of perception of workplace climate in the relationship between minority stressors and depressive symptoms. Knowledge about the moderating role of resilience also informs targeted interventions.

Interventions targeted at reducing minority stressors, enhancing perceived workplace climate, and promoting resilience are vital to enhance LGBTQ individuals’ mental health.