Examining LGBTQ Asylum Seekers' Psychosocial Stress and Individual and Collective Resilience: An Application of the Minority Stress Model

Background and Purpose: Every year LGBTQ individuals seek asylum in the U.S. due to violence and persecution in their countries of origin. Unlike refugees, most asylum seekers arrive without stable housing, the ability to work legally or access to supportive services. Additionally,  LGBTQ asylum seekers (LGBTQAS) are often coping with trauma from persecution in their countries of origin and discrimination in the U.S.  Despite these significant challenges, scant empirical research has systematically examined psychosocial stress experienced by LGBTQAS,  The minority stress model (Meyer, 2003) provides a framework to examine  the stress experiences of LGBTQAS and their proximal and distal causes, and to evaluate the efficacy of a multi-level intervention in fostering individual and collective resilience. The minority stress model has never been used to understand the experiences of LGBTQAS. The application of this framework has the potential to inform social work interventions.

Methods: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted between October 2015 and January 2016 with 28 participants in a multi-level supportive intervention for LGBTQAS in NYC (“The Asylum Project”). Participants originated from eight countries: Ghana, Jamaica, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Russia, Tunisia, and Uganda.  Interviews ranged from 30 to 60 minutes and were transcribed, coded and analyzed. Emergent themes from open coding led researchers to the minority stress model theoretical framework, which was incorporated into the coding scheme. Results reflect both inductive and theory-informed themes.

Results: The lives of LGBTQAS are characterized by acute sources of distal (discrimination, violence) and proximal (internalized stigma, fear or rejection) minority stress as well as different forms of resilience. These stressors were experienced in both LGBTQAS’ countries of origin and in the U.S., though manifested differently. For example, all LGBTQAS in our study faced violence or threat of violence in their countries of origin, while in the U.S. they faced discrimination due to racism and immigrant status. The Asylum Project fostered both individual and collective resilience among participants. Participants’ existing forms of individual resilience were enhanced through connection to housing and supportive services. Collective resilience was facilitated through LGBTQAS community building, fostering peer support and organizing collective action pursuant of international LGBTQ rights.

Conclusions and Implications: Recent years have seen an increased focus in resilience discourses to inform strengths-based social work. However, critiques of individual resilience models highlight their investment in neoliberal modes of individual advancement and emphasis on coping with, rather than combatting, structural oppressions undergirding social adversity. Our research shifts attention to include the role of collective resilience on buffering the impact of social marginalization and mobilizing targeted groups to advance social change. We find that the Asylum Project fostered both individual and collective resilience, thereby reducing psychosocial stress and targeting its root causes. Using the minority stress model as a framework to understand different forms of discrimination and resilience provide an opportunity to build a theory informed model of service provision.

Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674–697.