Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Notre Dame, 2006. / Thesis directed by E. Mark Cummings for the Department of Psychology. "April 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-90).

Racial minority men who have sex with men (MSM) experience greater levels of discrimination and higher rates of HIV infection. However, little is known about the associations between racial and heterosexist discrimination and HIV risk behavior. Further, little is known about the mechanisms of the association between racial and heterosexist discrimination and HIV risk behavior. There is some evidence to suggest that depression may be a mechanism that mediates the relationship between racial and heterosexist discrimination and HIV risk behavior. Thus, one purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which discrimination based on both race and sexual orientation, alone and in combination, are associated with HIV risk behavior. A secondary purpose of this study was to examine whether the relationship between discrimination and HIV risk behavior is mediated by depressive symptoms. Lastly this study sought to examine whether the relationships between discrimination, depressive symptoms, and HIV risk behavior were mediated by social support, LGBT and Native identity, and LGBT and Native community participation. This study analyzed data from the HONOR project, the first national study of two-spirit individuals, which included 221 American Indian and Alaska Native MSM. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the extent to which experiences of racial and heterosexist discrimination were associated with HIV risk behavior. Results indicate that heterosexist discrimination was associated with HIV risk behaviors, whereas racial discrimination was not. Conversely, results indicate that racial discrimination was associated with depressive symptoms, whereas heterosexist discrimination was not. This study found no association between depressive symptoms and HIV risk behavior, even when accounting for alcohol and substance use. Results indicate that depressive symptoms are not a mechanism that explains the association between discrimination and HIV risk and perhaps the better mechanism to examine in future studies is substance use. Finally, LGBT community participation was shown to have protective effects against HIV risk behaviors. These findings have the potential to guide development of mental health and HIV prevention interventions for Native MSM, with special attention to LGBT community participation and social support. Future research should examine attributes such as types, sources, and frequency of heterosexist discrimination and LGBT community participation.

Studies indicate that, except for anger, many men tend to avoid expressing their feelings, especially those feelings indicative of personal vulnerability and emotional dependency (Levant, Hall, Williams, & Hasan, 2009). Men are frequently portrayed as lacking the ability to recognise, own and find words with which to express their feeling experiences; this is captured by the term alexithymia (Levant, Hall, Williams, & Hasan, 2009). Defined by ‘restrictive emotionality’, alexithymia literally indicates ‘without words for emotions’. Roland Levant has contended that men who are strongly influenced by ideas of traditional masculinity tend to be alexithymic (Levant, Hall, Williams, & Hasan, 2009). The central aim of this study was to focus on and understand the emotional experiences of participants of all-male or gender-homogenous group psychotherapy of this study. The study used a qualitative approach to understand how men emotionally engage or do not engage and express their emotions. Men who had been in all-male group psychotherapy were purposively selected to participate in this study. In-depth interviews guided by a semi-structured questionnaire were conducted and analysed according to the thematic analytic method. This study explored and described the accounts of lived emotional engagements of male participants in an all-male psychotherapy group. The study sought to highlight the significance of an explicit masculine framework with male emotions within a framework of non-deficit assumptions. The non-deficit approach to men privileges the strengths and unique contributions that men make as partners and fathers (Dollahite & Hawkins, 1998). This study explored and described the accounts of lived emotional engagements of male participants in an all-male psychotherapy group. The study sought to highlight the significance of an explicit masculine framework with male emotions within a framework of non-deficit assumptions. The non-deficit approach to men privileges the strengths and unique contributions that men make as partners and fathers (Dollahite & Hawkins, 1998). This study aspired to demonstrate that a gender-conscious model in working with male emotions enhances men’s capacity for a quality and depth of emotional engagement that echoes the more optimistic research on the male capacity for self-reflection and openness to subjective transformation (Kiselica, 2003). / Psychology / Ph. D. (Psychology)