This study assessed whether baseline levels of distal and proximal minority stressors related to sexual orientation, gender, and weight were associated with prospective risk for dysregulated eating in daily life among sexual minority women with overweight/obesity. Method: Fifty-five sexual minority women ages 18 -60 (M ϭ 25 Ϯ 9) with BMI Ͼ 25 kg/m 2 (M ϭ 32 Ϯ 5) completed baseline assessments of distal and proximal minority stressors due to sexual orientation, gender, and weight. Participants then completed an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) protocol. For five days, participants responded to five random prompts assessing engagement in dysregulated eating (i.e., overeating, binge eating). The cumulative number of EMA-measured overeating and binge eating episodes was summed per participant. Results: Several minority stressors related to sexual orientation, gender, and weight were associated with prospective risk for dysregulated eating behaviors during EMA. Women with higher (vs. lower) baseline levels of internalized homophobia reported more cumulative episodes of binge eating during the EMA period. Women reporting greater (vs. less) baseline sexual orientation concealment reported more episodes of overeating during the EMA period. Women with greater (vs. less) baseline weight bias experiences and internalization reported more overeating and binge eating episodes during the EMA period. Conclusions: Findings from this pilot study identify internalized homophobia, sexual orientation concealment, and experienced and internalized weight bias as potential risk factors for dysregulated eating behaviors among sexual minority women of higher body weight.

Research using the Recognition Without Identification paradigm (Cleary & Greene, 2000, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition , 26 [4], 1063–1069; Peynircioǧlu, 1990, Journal of Memory and Language , 29 , 493–500) has found that participants can discriminate between old and new stimuli even when the stimuli are obscured to a degree that they are unidentifiable. This methodology has been adapted in the past by using heavily obscured threatening and nonthreatening images and asking participants to try to identify each image followed by a familiarity rating of the image. Past results showed that threatening images that were not able to be identified were rated as more familiar than nonthreatening images that were not able to be identified (Cleary et al., 2013, Memory & Cognition , 41 , 989–999). The current study used a similar methodology to explore the possibility that a sense of familiarity can serve to guide our attention toward potential threats in the environment. However, contrary to earlier results, we found that positive images were rated as more familiar than negative images. This pattern was found with both identified and unidentified images and was replicated across five experiments. The current findings are consistent with the view that feelings of positivity and familiarity are closely linked (e.g., de Vries et al., 2010, Psychological Science , 21 [3], 321–328; Garcia-Marques et al., 2004, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 30 , 585–593; Monin, 2003, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 85 [6], 1035–1048).