Professor Bonnie Klimes-Dougan

This neuroimaging study aims to advance current understanding of the biological processes underlying minority stress in sexual and gender minority (SGM) young adults, and to facilitate advances toward bolstering protective factors in this population. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be used to measure brain signal patterns both in the resting state and in the context of a novel paradigm designed by the study team specifically to probe both minority stress and positive mood in the scanner. Neuroimaging metrics across these three contexts (rest, minority stress, positive mood) will include activation, functional connectivity (correlation of brain signal patterns between brain regions), and entropy (conceptualized as a marker of neural flexibility) within the salience network (a set of regions known to be implicated in stress regulation). 

• Aim 1: To examine relationships between self-reported levels of minority stress with brain activation patterns within the salience network in response to minority stress versus positive mood induction paradigms.
  • Hypothesis 1. Higher self-reported minority stress will correlate inversely with brain activation during the positive mood induction paradigm and correlate positively with brain activations during the minority stress induction paradigm.
• Aim 2: To draw causal inferences, SGM young adults will be randomized to Group A (experiencing minority stress before positive mood induction) or Group B (experiencing positive mood before minority stress). The researchers will examine how brain activation patterns, functional connectivity, and entropy within salience network regions vary across contexts: rest, minority stress induction (MSI), positive mood induction (PMI).
  • Hypothesis 2: While functional connectivity will strengthen during both task conditions in comparison to resting-state, the minority stress induction condition will be associated with lower entropy (inflexibility) while the positive mood induction will lead to greater entropy (greater flexibility / expansiveness) in salience network regions.
• Aim 3: Exploratory aims will include follow up analyses for both Aim I and 2 will explore and control for contributions of other stressors (e.g., traumatic events, physiological stress responses), contributions of psychopathology (e.g., depressive or self-harm symptoms), or intersectional identities (e.g., ethnic/racial minority status).