Researcher at Wheaton College Zeroes in on Psychological Science (Religion/Spirituality, Stress, and Resilience Among Sexual and Gender Minorities: The Religious/Spiritual Stress and Resilience Model).

This article focuses on new research from Wheaton College introducing the Religious/Spiritual Stress and Resilience model (RSSR), which examines how religiousness and spirituality (RS) affect the health of sexual and gender minorities (SGMs). The RSSR integrates minority stress, structural stigma, and RS-health pathways to explain when RS may promote or harm SGM health, outlining five key propositions about the interactions among minority stress, resilience, RS, and health. The research highlights factors such as congregational attitudes and identity integration that moderate these relationships and suggests bidirectional influences between these variables. This framework aims to guide future studies on the complex role of RS in SGM health outcomes.