| The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between religious and spiritual identities and the mental health of sexual minorities. This study sought to compare the psychological well-being of sexual minorities who identify as (1) neither religious nor spiritual, (2) spiritual and not religious, (3) religious from an affirming institution, and (4) religious from a non-affirming institution. This study hypothesized there would be significant differences between the psychological well-being, internalized sexual stigma, spiritual well-being, and symptoms of depression between each religious and spiritual classification. Results showed limited support for the hypothesis. Religious participants from the non-affirming religious institutions demonstrated higher levels of internalized homophobia when compared to all other groups. Additionally, both religious groups reported greater spiritual well-being than the spiritual and not religious group, which was also greater than the neither religious nor spiritual participants. These finding suggest that sexual minorities are capable of maintaining rich religious and spiritual lives within the context of both affirming and non-affirming religious institutions and at the same time have minimal levels of depression. |
