Motivations for sexual identity concealment and their associations with mental health among bisexual, pansexual, queer, and fluid (bi+) individuals.
Motivations for sexual identity concealment and their associations with mental health among bisexual, pansexual, queer, and fluid (bi+) individuals.
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DOI：
10.1080/15299716.2020.1743402
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发表时间：
2020
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Davila J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Feinstein BA;Xavier Hall CD;Dyar C;Davila J
与异性恋者和男女同性恋者相比，双性恋者和其他非单性恋者(bi+)患抑郁症和焦虑症的风险更高。双性恋+的人也比男/女同性恋者更有可能隐瞒自己的性取向，隐瞒通常与负面的心理健康结果有关。尽管有证据表明，隐藏是双性恋+人群的一个特别显著的压力源，但人们对他们隐藏的动机缺乏关注。因此，目前这项研究的目标是在完成在线调查的715名双性恋+人群中检查隐藏、隐藏动机与抑郁和普遍焦虑症状之间的联系。近一半的参与者支持在日常生活中故意试图掩盖他们的双性恋身份，隐瞒与更高水平的抑郁和普遍焦虑显著相关。使用探索性因素分析，我们确定了隐藏的两个动机：个人内部动机(例如，一个人的bi+身份不是一个人整体身份的核心部分，对成为bi+感到不舒服)和人际动机(例如，担心被评判或被负面对待，担心将自己置于身体伤害的风险中)。人与人之间的动机与更高水平的抑郁和普遍焦虑显著相关，而个人动机与此无关。总而言之，虽然隐瞒通常与消极的心理健康结果有关，但这可能只适用于那些出于对歧视和受害的担忧而隐瞒的人。这些发现突显了检查双性恋+人群隐瞒其性取向的动机的重要性，以了解他们经历负面心理健康后果的程度。
Bisexual and other non-monosexual (bi+) people are at increased risk for depression and anxiety compared to both heterosexual and gay/lesbian people. Bi+ people are also more likely to conceal their sexual orientation than gay/lesbian people are, and concealment is generally associated with negative mental health outcomes. Despite evidence that concealment is a particularly salient stressor for bi+ people, there has been a lack of attention to their motivations for concealment. As such, the goal of the current study was to examine the associations among concealment, motivations for concealment, and depression and generalized anxiety symptoms in a sample of 715 bi+ people who completed an online survey. Nearly half of participants endorsed purposely trying to conceal their bi+ identity in their day-to-day life, and concealment was significantly associated with higher levels of depression and generalized anxiety. Using exploratory factor analysis, we identified two motivations for concealment: intrapersonal motivations (e.g., one’s bi+ identity not being a central part of one’s overall identity, not being comfortable with being bi+) and interpersonal motivations (e.g., concern about being judged or treated negatively, concern about putting oneself at risk of physical harm). Interpersonal motivations were significantly associated with higher levels of depression and generalized anxiety, whereas intrapersonal motivations were not. In sum, while concealment may generally be associated with negative mental health outcomes, this may only be the case for those who conceal out of concern for discrimination and victimization. These findings highlight the importance of examining bi+ people’s motivations for concealing their sexual orientation in order to understand the extent to which they experience negative mental health outcomes.