Better understanding vulnerability to the consequences of discrimination: Externalizing behaviours and social support as moderators between racism, sexism and homophobia and depressive and substance use outcomes
This research project investigates the complex interplay between systemic discrimination and psychological outcomes in adolescent development.
Principal investigator
Alexa Martin-Storey
Co-investigators
Aprile Benner, Michèle Déry, Melanie Dirks, Katholiki Georgiades, Geneviève Paquette, Caroline E. Temcheff
Funding source
CIHR/IRSC
Objectives & Methods
Objectives
The project focuses on the interplay of social stigma and mental health through two primary objectives:
1. Use quantitative methods to explore whether the links between sexism, racism, and homophobia and depressive symptoms and substance use are moderated by externalizing behaviour, and to test whether these associations vary according to sex.
2. Use a mixed-methods approach to examine how sex and gender shape the link between externalizing behaviours and experiences of discrimination and stigma.
Methods and Sample
This research utilizes mixed methods, integrating qualitative interviews with detailed analyses from four significant datasets across Canada and the United States, including the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development and the Ontario Child Health Study. Focusing on adolescent populations, the project is currently in the late stages of analysis and publication preparation.
Key findings
- Externalizing and conduct problems compound the risks associated with sexual minority status, with homophobic discrimination emerging as a key mediating mechanism linking sexual minority status to later externalizing symptoms and aggressive behavior.
- Sexual minority youth with conduct problem histories face compounded disadvantages in academic achievement and access to appropriate services, often reporting that providers fail to address their intersectional identities.
- Stigma-related harms extend beyond self-identified sexual minority youth to those merely perceived by peers as such, illustrating the broad reach of stigma in adolescent populations.
Associated outputs and publications
Martin-Storey, A., Dryburgh, N., Georgiades, K., Benner., A. & Dirks, M. (in preparation). Conduct problems excacerbate the link between racist discrimination and depressive symptoms: Findings from a population-based sample of adolescents.
Dryburgh, N., Martin-Storey, A., Georgiades, K., & Dirks, M. (under review). Disability-based peer victimization and mental health disorders in a population-based study of youth. Stigma and Health.
Martin-Storey, A., & Pollitt, A. (2025). Hurt people hurt people: Understanding actual and perceived aggressive behavior among sexually and gender diverse adolescents. In Sexually and Gender Diverse Adolescents (pp. 164-173). Routledge.
Martin-Storey, A., Zhao, Z., Toomey, R. B., & Syvertsen, A. K. (2025). Sexual minority identity and risky alcohol use: the moderating role of aggressive behavior. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 54(1), 196-208.
Morgan, R., Martin-Storey, A., Lapalme, M., Déry, M., & Temcheff, C. E. (2025). Homophobic discrimination mediates the link between sexual minority status and later externalizing symptoms in adolescence. Psychology of Violence, 15(4), 416.
Martin-Storey, A., Garon-Carrier, G., Dery, M., & Temcheff, C. (2024). Sexual minority status and academic achievement during the transition to adolescence among youth with childhood conduct problems. Youth & Society, 56(1), 94-116.
Chilliak, S., Martin‐Storey, A., Déry, M., Temcheff, C. E., & Lapalme, M. (2024). When we go to ask for help, they don't understand how to help us: Understanding how youth with childhood histories of conduct problems link sexuality and gender to school‐based service use. Psychology in the Schools, 61(5), 2160-2184.
Martin‐Storey, A., & Benner, A. D. (2023). Real and assumed sexual minority status: Longitudinal associations with depressive symptoms. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 33(2), 404-417.
Martin-Storey, A., & Benner, A. (2019). Externalizing behaviors exacerbate the link between discrimination and adolescent health risk behaviors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(9), 1724-1735.