Preliminary Evidence of heightened discomfort tolerance in non-heterosexual individuals

Authors

  • Carmelo Mario Vicario Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Messina, Messina
  • Alessandro Capodici Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of Messina, Messina
  • Alice Giunta
  • Alessandra Falzone
  • Amelia Gangemi
  • Antonio Pennisi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13129/3035-062X/prnr-4572

Keywords:

Interoception, Interoceptive awareness, Not distracting, Minority stress theory

Abstract

This study delves into the interoceptive and emotional appraisals of non-heterosexual individuals, with the hypothesis that differences may exist when compared to their heterosexual counterparts.

Our results revealed a significant difference between heterosexual and non-heterosexual individuals, with the latter group displaying higher scores on the "not-distracting" subscale of the MAIA-2 questionnaire.

This finding provides evidence of heightened discomfort tolerance among non-heterosexual individuals, which may be mediated by adaptive mechanisms developed in response to stressors, in line with the minority stress theory.

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2024-12-31

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