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Coping with minority stress in romantic relationships among lesbian, gay and bisexual people

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Abstract

Minority Stress in lesbian, gay, and bisexual people (LGBs) might have detrimental effects on relationship satisfaction. However, less is known regarding the potential mechanisms among the association above in LGBs’ romantic relationships. In the present study, we investigated the spillover and buffering impact of minority stress on relationship satisfaction among LGB individuals. A targeted sampling strategy was used to recruit LGBs (N= 1481) for a cross-sectional, online survey. Participants (M age = 35.05 years; 53% men) completed a survey that captured minority stress (i.e., internalized homonegativity, stigma consciousness, and concealment of sexual orientation); intra-/extra-dyadic stress and dyadic coping; and relationship satisfaction. Rigorous latent moderated structural equations was used to test associations between variables. Results indicated that the final model demonstrated acceptable fit. Minority stress was negatively associated with relationship satisfaction only via heightened intra-dyadic stress. Dyadic coping moderated the spillover effect between minority stress and intra-dyadic stress. This study highlights the importance of investigating dyadic coping in romantic relationships in LGBs to gain an insight into these relationships and the associated processes. It has important clinical and social implications for the development and evaluation of multi-level interventions.

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Notes

  1. We also conducted a supplementary analysis to test the moderated mediation effects with control variables. Independent-samples t test showed that women had significantly higher relationship satisfaction scores (M = 20.95, SD = 2.83) than men (M = 20.56, SD = 2.68), t = −2.719, p < 0.01. However, there was no significant association between relationship satisfaction and age (p > .05) neither with relationship duration (p > .05), respectively. Thus, we added gender to the analysis. After model modification (for error correlation between concealment and internalized homonegativity, concealment and stigma consciousness), results showed the model had an adequate fit to the data (i.e., CFI = .97, RMSEA = .06, SRMR = .03), with similar direct effects, indirect effects as well as moderating effects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Chao Song, Ann Buysse & Alexis Dewaele

  2. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Weihong Zhang

  3. Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Ciyong Lu & Meijun Zhao

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  1. Chao Song
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Song, C., Buysse, A., Zhang, W. et al. Coping with minority stress in romantic relationships among lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Curr Psychol 41, 6922–6933 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01188-z

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