Mental health of religious/spiritual lesbians, gays and bisexuals: a scoping review

Gomes, Ágatha Aila Amábili de Meneses; Souza, Luana Elayne Cunha de; Lima, Bruno Ponte Belarmino

doi:10.1590/1982-0275202542e220105

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REVIEW ARTICLE - Social Psychology • Estud. psicol. 42 • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0275202542e220105 linkcopy

Mental health of religious/spiritual lesbians, gays and bisexuals: a scoping review

Saúde mental de lésbicas, gays e bissexuais religiosos/espirituais: uma scoping review

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Objective The effects of religiosity and spirituality on the mental health of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals are not clear, especially when there is an incongruity between religious/spiritual beliefs and sexual orientation. Based on this ground, a scoping review was performed to map the evidence reported in the literature on the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and mental health in religious/spiritual lesbians, gays and bisexuals.

Method The search was performed using the PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scientific Electronic Library Online and Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde databases and a total of 36 studies were selected for review.

Results It was found that religiosity and spirituality can be both beneficial and harmful to the individuals assessed, as there was no consensus regarding their effect on mental health.

Conclusion In general, this review offers contributions to the scientific knowledge, pointing out the complexity of the phenomenon and the existing gaps in studies already carried out, allowing the establishment of directions for future research.

Keywords
Bisexuality; Health; Homosexuality; Spirituality

Author, year, country of the study	Sample	Measures of religiosity	Measures of mental health
Barnes & Meyer (2012) U.S.A.	396 LGB	Religious affiliation Attendance at religious services Individual prayer frequency Religiosity and spirituality Exposure to non-affirmative religious environments	Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS) Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D)
Shilo & Savay (2012) Israel	461 LGB	Religiosity	Mental Health Inventory (MHI)
Hamblin & Gross (2013) U.S.A.	193 gays and lesbians	Attendance a religious services Religious affiliation	Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21)
Longo et al. (2013) U.S.A.	250 young people who identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning or queer	Religious affiliation Religious Guidance	Non-suicidal self-injury
Page et al. (2013) U.S.A.	170 teens and young adults LGB	Religious, Spiritual, and Sexual Identities Questionnaire (RSSIQ)	Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition, Self-Report-Adolescent version (BASC-2, SRPA-A)
Walker & Longmire-Avital (2013) U.S.A.	175 LGB black Young adults	Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire	The Resiliency Scale State-Trait Personality Inventory Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale
Gattis et al. (2014) U.S.A.	393 young people from sexual minorities and 1727 heterosexuals	Religious affiliation Religiosity	“Depression” subscale of the Brief Symptom Inventory
Harari et al. (2014) U.S.A.	191 Jewish gays (study 2)	Orthodox Jewish Religiosity Scale (OJRS) Intrinsic/Extrinsic - Revised Scale Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES)	Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) Brief Symptom Inventory
Kralovec et al. (2014) Austria	625 Austrian (358 LGB)	Religious affiliation Feeling of belonging to the religious community	Suicidal ideation Recent Suicidal Ideation Suicide Attempts Allgemeine Depressions Skala Skalenzur Erfassung der Hoffnungslosigkeit
Sowe et al. (2014) Australia	579 Christian, ex-Christian and non-religious LGB	Prominence of religion Perceived environment Christian Religious Internalization Scale “Universal Age” I-E Scale-12	Psychological distress Sense of Self Scale
Crowell et al. (2015) U.S.A.	634 LGB members or former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints	Current relationship/status with the church	Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS-34)
Shilo et al. (2016) Israel	113 Jewish gays and bisexuals	Jewish Religious Coping Scale (JCOP)	Mental Health Inventory (MHI)
Brewster et al. (2016) U.S.A.	143 people from sexual minorities	Brief Measure of Religious Coping Styles (B-RCOPE)	Hopkins Symptom Checklist-21 (HSCL-21) Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS)
Meanley et al. (2016) U.S.A.	397 gay or bisexual men aged 18-29	Religiosity/spirituality Attendance at religious services Religious coping	Roserbeg’s Self-Esteem Scale Meaning in Life Scale – adapted version
Watkins et al. (2016) U.S.A.	1,141 black men who have sex with men	Religiosity Spirituality	High Risk Behavior
Cranney (2017) U.S.A.	Mormon LGB (N = 119), Non-Mormon LGB (N = 94), Non-LGB Mormons (N = 12,858) and Non-LGB Non-Mormons (N = 3,918)	Religious affiliation Attendance at religious services	General health Healthy days in the last 30 days
Foster et al. (2017) U.S.A.	212 LGB	Religious affiliation Level of religiosity	Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Satisfaction with Life Scale Hopkins Symptom Checklist-21
Joseph & Cranney (2017) U.S.A.	348 LGB/Same-sex Attracted Mormons and Ex-Mormons (SSA)	Church Status	Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
Barringer & Gay (2017) U.S.A.	1,156 adults self-identified as LGBT	Religious affiliation Attendance of religious services	Subjective happiness
Zarzycka et al. (2017) Poland	108 men, 54 of whom are homosexual and 54 heterosexual	Religious Comfort and Strain Scale (RCSS)	State-Trait Personality Inventory Satisfaction with Life Scale
Drabble et al. (2018) U.S.A.	699 lesbian and bisexual women	Religious affiliation Religiosity Spirituality	Dangerous alcohol consumption Drug use National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule
Shearer et al. (2018) U.S.A.	129 adolescents of whom 41 reported same-sex attraction, both sex attraction, or were unsure of who attracted them	Religiosity Parental religiosity	The Suicide Ideation Questionnaire The Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale
Scroggs et al. (2018) U.S.A.	961 people from Sexual and Gender Minorities (SGM)	Religious activity	Subjective well-being
Lytle et al. (2018) U.S.A.	21,247 young adults (485 lesbians/gays, 696 bisexuals, 233 questioners)	Religiosity	Suicidal ideation in the last year (recent); Suicide attempt from last year (recent); Suicide attempt through out life
Pucket et al. (2018) U.S.A.	217 cisgender persons from sexual minorities	Religious affiliation Attendance at religious services Out to Religion from the Outness Inventory Intrinsic Religious Orientation (Religious Orientation Scale) Views on organized religion and personal relationship with a higher power	Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D)
Moscardini et al. (2018) U.S.A.	365 bisexuals	Duke University Religiosity Index (DUREL)	Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ)
Escher et al. (2019) U.S.A.	102 LGB, 55 years or older	Childhood religious affiliation Current religious affiliation Religious engagement	Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) UCLA Loneliness Scale
Heiden-Rootes et al. (2019) U.S.A.	384 gay, lesbian, bisexual or same-sex adults raised in a religious family	Revised Religious Fundamentalism Scale	Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression (PHQ-9)
Rodriguez et al. (2019) U.S.A.	750 LGB	Religiosity Scale Spirituality Scale Religious Support Worship Service Attendance	Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) Spielberger Anxiety Rosenberg Self-Esteem UCLA Loneliness Positive Affect People’s benevolence Benevolence of the world
Lassiter et al. (2019) U.S.A.	1,071 HIV-negative gay or bisexual men	Ironson-Woods Spirituality/ Religiousness Index Subscale “Sense of Peace” Subscale “religious behavior Ironson-Woods Spirituality/Religiousness Index Religious coping: subscale of the modified version of COPE	Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale
Heiden-Rootes et al. (2020) U.S.A.	384 sexual minority adults from religious families (153 bi+: bisexual/pansexual/queer and 231 lesbian/gay)	Family religious affiliation College Religious Affiliation Current religious affiliations	Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression (PHQ-9)
Huffman et al. (2020) U.S.A.	436 Cisgender LGB	Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) Intrinsic Spirituality Scale	Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale The Satisfaction with Life Scale
Lefevor et al. (2020) U.S.A.	1,128 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer (LGBQ) / Same-Sex Attracted (SSA) Mormons and Ex-Mormons	Current Religious Affiliation Frequency of religious activities Religious point of view Level of resolution regarding sexual and religious issues	Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7) Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) Flourishing Scale
Szymanski & Carretta (2020) U.S.A.	996 LGB	Religious Struggle Scale Religious Commitment Inventory - short form	Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL-21) Satisfaction with Life Scale
Plöderl et al. (2020) Austria	351 patients admitted to a psychiatric crisis intervention ward specializing in suicide prevention (28 men and 55 women from sexual minorities)	Centrality Scale Self-transcendence Scale Religious affiliation Attachment to the religious group	Beck’s Scale for Suicide Ideation Response status Hospitalization time to response
Klundt et al. (2021) U.S.A.	7,625 students at Brigham Young University, of whom 996 indicated sexual orientation other than “strictly heterosexual”	Duke University Religiosity Index (DUREL)	Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms – 34 (CCAPS-34) Suicidal Behaviors Questionnaire - Revised (SBQ-R) Quality of Life Scale (QOLS)

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[1] Note: LGB: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual.