Vicarious traumatization of non-victim members of a community targeted by bias crimes has been suggested by previous qualitative research (Noelle, 2002). The present study extended this research in a quantitative examination of a model of proximal physiological, emotional, and cognitive responses among lesbian, gay, bisexual (LGB) and heterosexual participants during and immediately following exposure to bias crime information, using a novel quasi-experimental, mixed-factorial design with ecologically-valid stimuli. Participants listened to news information about neutral, general threat, and bias threat events while skin conductance level (SCL) and startle eyeblink magnitude were recorded, providing reports of affect following each clip. Participants reported pre-task negative beliefs about the world and completed post-task measures of negative cognitions, identity centrality, public regard, and additional variables of interest (e.g., past victimization). I hypothesized that responses would differ between LGB and heterosexual participants, such that LGB participants would show exaggerated defensive mobilization to bias threats. I further hypothesized that collective identity would magnify defensive responses. Group differences were observed in startle, affect, and SCL. LGB participants' affective response and startle magnitude across conditions were consistent with defensive mobilization, while their pattern of SCL was inconsistent. Both groups demonstrated declines in negative cognitions, opposite of prediction. No relations were observed between collective identity and these responses. Results are discussed in light of defensive mobilization to threat, nonlinear relations between trauma and physiological responses to threat, social identity, and threat-related cognition. These results suggest that LGB participants experience bias crime events differently from heterosexual participants, and indicates that they respond to them as threats, with subjective and physiological markers of defensive mobilization. Changes in worldview are not consistent with known responses to acute trauma exposure. Long-term consequences of exposure to bias crime information for mental health and well-being among LGB young adults are unclear. Potential pathways to mental health outcomes, such as stress-related dysregulation of the stress response, are discussed. Future research further explicating this phenomena is strongly recommended. The present study contributes to the growing literature on minority mental health and may have implications for clinical practice by informing clinicians of stress-related experiences of LGB individuals.
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