Anxiety coping motives moderate links between discrimination and alcohol use in immigrant-origin and non-immigrant LGBQ+ college student.

BACKGROUND

Heterosexism is associated with negative outcomes, including alcohol use. Research is needed to understand considerations for intervention. This study examined anxiety coping motives as a moderator of the associations between heterosexist discrimination distress and weekly alcohol use among a sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ+) college students and tested whether the effects of discrimination distress and anxiety coping differed by immigrant origin.

METHODS

Zero-inflated negative binomial regressions were conducted to assess main effects and interaction effects. Participants included 691 (Mage = 20.08) emerging adults. Twenty-six percent were immigrants or US-born children of immigrant parents.

RESULTS

Moderation analyses revealed a significant interaction effect: distress from heterosexist discrimination was a stronger predictor of alcohol use among immigrant-origin college students relative to their non-immigrant counterparts. Interactive effects were not significant between discrimination and anxiety coping motives or between anxiety coping motives and immigrant origin. Results also revealed unique effects of anxiety coping motives, such that stronger motivation to drink as a strategy to cope with anxiety was associated with a greater risk of alcohol use.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that whereas heterosexist discrimination distress appears to be a risk factor for alcohol use among LGBQ+ college students, it may be particularly relevant for LGBQ+ immigrant-origin students experiencing such distress. Findings point to anxiety coping motivation as a factor that may exacerbate disparities in alcohol use and underscore its role as a potential target of intervention.