TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE OF HOMOFOBIC BULLYING: THE ROLE OF SELF-COMPASSION IN SHAME AND DEPRESSION IN SEXUAL MINORITIES - Daniel Seabra, Jorge Gato ...

TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE OF HOMOFOBIC BULLYING:
            THE ROLE OF SELF-COMPASSION
               IN SHAME AND DEPRESSION
                  IN SEXUAL MINORITIES

 Daniel Seabra, Jorge Gato, Nicola Petrocchi, & Maria do Céu Salvador

MAIN RESULT

COMPASSIONATE ACTION TOWARDS THE
SELF SEEMS TO BE A PROTECTIVE FACTOR
FOR DEPRESSION IN SEXUAL MINORITIES
  WITH HOMOPHOFOBIC EXPERIENCES

MAIN RESULT

               • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and pansexual people tend to show higher levels
                 of shame and depression when compared to heterosexuals'
                 individuals1.
               • Gay men reported homophobic bullying2 (potentially shaming).
INTRODUCTION

               • There is evidence that compassion towards self (self-compassion) is
                 negatively related to feelings of shame3.

               Main Aim: To analyze the mediator effect of self-compassion in
               the relationship between feelings of shame in traumatic
               homophobic bullying experiences and depression symptoms,
               among sexual minority individuals

MAIN RESULT

         Sample: 160 Portuguese adults who reported having traumatic bullying
         experiences based on their sexual orientation and/or gender expression
         Aged between 18 and 57 years old

         11,30% lesbian
METHOD

         55% gay
         23,80% bisexual
         8,80% pansexual

         27,50% female
         54,40% male
         6,90% non-binary

Measures:MAIN RESULT
         TRSI_ IS (Traumatic Related-Shame Inventory)4,5
         variable: Internal Shame (12 items, α = .95)
         CEAS (the Compassionate Engagement and Action Scales)6
         variable: Compassionate Actions (5 items, α = .60)
         DASS-21 (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale )7,8
         variable: Depression Symptoms (7 items, α = .91)
METHOD

         Data analyzes:
         ♢ All analyses were conducted on SPSS Statistics (version 25) and
         PROCESS Macro (Hayes, 2020);
         ♢ Pearson correlations were conducted to examine relationships
         between variables;
         ♢ Mediation analysis (model 4) was used for mediation analyzes;
         ♢ Significance was considered for p values < .05 and if zero was excluded
         from the 95% confidence intervals (5,000 bootstrap samples).

MAIN RESULT

                           1                 2           3
RESULTS

          1. TRSI_IS       1

           2. CEAS        -.41*              1

           3. DASS        .58*              -.47*        1

                         Correlation between variables       * p

MAIN RESULT

                                     compassionate
                                         actions
RESULTS

                                                                 b: β = -.69**
               a: β = -1.36*

             internal shame                                    symptoms of
                                        c: β = 4,72*
          (homophobic bullying)                                depression
                                        c': β = 3.78*

                                                                                 * p

MAIN RESULT

          ♢ The model explained 33% of the variability of depressive symptoms;

          ♢ Both direct and indirect effects on depressive symptoms were
RESULTS

          significant;

          ♢ Compassionate actions toward the self partially mediated the
          relationship between internal shame felt in traumatic
          homophobic bullying experiences and depressive symptoms.

MAIN RESULT

             ♢ Shame felt in traumatic experiences of homophobic bullying had a
             significant effect on depressive symptoms, and part of this relationship
             was explained by the lack of compassionate actions.
DISCUSSION

             ♢ Our results reinforce the importance of developing compassionate
             actions towards the self (developing abilities of identifying and relieving
             suffering) as a possible protective factor in depressive symptoms among
             sexual minorities.

TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE OF HOMOFOBIC BULLYING:
                                                                                                              THE ROLE OF SELF-COMPASSION
                                                                                                                  IN SHAME AND DEPRESSION
                                                                                                                      IN SEXUAL MINORITIES

                                                                                                Daniel Seabra, Jorge Gato, Nicola Petrocchi, & Maria do Céu Salvador

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