Assimilative demands: The psychological impact of legal decisions on lesbians’ lives

<p>Covering, a construct that has been absent from the empirical psychological literature, is the pressure to or act of downplaying characteristics associated with a stigmatized identity (Goffman, 1963). This research investigated the covering demand in lesbian-identified women drawing on four related literatures: acculturation, discrimination, stigma, and self-concealment. The objectives of this research were to examine the impact of structural, legal covering demands on psychological domains and develop a grounded understanding of these demands in lesbian women. A mixed-method approach was utilized. Forty-six lesbian-identified women recruited from community venues participated in the quasi-experiment and focus groups, and five also engaged in follow-up in depth interviews. The results showed that the covering demand affects emotional reactions in these lesbian women and that they adopt multiple strategies for coping with these demands in everyday life. These findings provide initial support for the conceptualization of the covering demand as a potential everyday, minority stressor.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2009

Author dc:creator

• Grey, Melissa J.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Silvia von Kluge, PhD, Committee Chair
• Norman Gordon, PhD
• Stephen Jefferson, PhD

• heterosexism
• minority stress
• lesbians
• Clinical Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/505

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-1879