Compare and despair: Unequal vulnerability by sexual orientation, ethnicity, and disability status
R Bränström, JE PachankisAbstract
Background
Social comparison plays a central role in human social life, with well-known psychological consequences. Evolutionarily, comparing oneself to others is adaptive for navigating social hierarchies and securing acceptance. However, unfavorable comparisons—seeing oneself as inferior or less valued—can trigger defensive strategies such as submissiveness, manifesting as shame, social anxiety, and reduced self-assertiveness. These link to feelings of low social rank and fears of rejection, and when persistent, increase depression vulnerability. This dynamic highlights how mechanisms evolved for social survival can become maladaptive in modern contexts.
Methods
This study uses data from three annual waves of the Swedish Biopsychosocial Mechanisms Linking Health and Social Stress (BLISS) cohort (n = 22,925; ages ≥16 years) to examine whether social comparison prospectively mediates disparities in psychosocial outcomes (i.e., depression, shame, self-assertiveness) by sexual orientation, ethnicity, and disability statuses.
Results
All three minority statuses were associated with higher levels of shame and depression, but patterns differed across groups. Sexual minority individuals and individuals with disabilities compared themselves unfavorably in terms of perceived social attractiveness and group fit, compared to majority groups. Social comparison accounted for a substantial proportion of disparities in our outcomes: Social comparison explained 35% of the sexual orientation disparity in shame and 65% of the sexual orientation disparity in self-assertiveness. For disability status, social comparison explained 40% of the shame disparity and over 90% of the self-assertiveness disparity. Social comparison did not mediate any of the three outcomes for ethnic minority groups.
Conclusions
Unfavorable social comparisons may be a key mechanism linking minority status to psychosocial vulnerability, especially for sexual minorities and people with disabilities.