The relationship between perceived discrimination, coping and psychological distress among gay men in Malaysia /
Gay men experience different challenges unlike other sexual minority groups due to the strong stigma related to their sexual orientation. Among the challenges, discrimination is conceptualized as among the core challenges faced by gay men and appears in different sectors, including employment, educa...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Kuala Lumpur :
Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia,
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Click here to view 1st 24 pages of the thesis. Members can view fulltext at the specified PCs in the library. |
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| Summary: | Gay men experience different challenges unlike other sexual minority groups due to the strong stigma related to their sexual orientation. Among the challenges, discrimination is conceptualized as among the core challenges faced by gay men and appears in different sectors, including employment, education and health. The experiences of discrimination pose negative influences like psychological distress on their health. To survive, the ability to cope is important for gay men. Living in a country where the practice of homosexuality was highly rejected in society, it is expected gay men in Malaysia experience even worse discrimination and health issues. Meanwhile, it is also important to understand coping strategies that they practise which might influence their health, either for good or for worse. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between perceived discrimination, coping and psychological distress among gay men in Malaysia, with three main objectives: (i) to examine the relationship between perceived discrimination and psychological distress, (ii) to examine the relationship between coping and psychological distress and (iii) to determine the role of coping in the discrimination-distress relationship. Based on purposive sampling, a total of 136 Malaysian gay men were purposively recruited through social media outlets, as well as email by responding to a link created for the online survey. Problem-focused coping and emotional-focused coping were derived from factor analysis for the coping scale. Correlation and multiple regressions were employed to analyse the data. The correlation results of the present study show a positive relationship of perceived discrimination and psychological distress, which include somatization, anxiety and depression symptoms. In addition, problem-focused coping and emotional-focused coping are also positively correlated to psychological distress. However, both coping strategies played no role in discrimination-distress relationship. The present study contributes to the growing number of literature on sexual minority groups all over the world and adds information to the Malaysian context, especially on discrimination, coping and health among gay men. Some limitations of the studies are highlighted for recommendations in future research. |
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| Physical Description: | xii, 114 leaves : illustrations ; 30cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-101). |