The Roles of Resilience and Perceived Discrimination in Sexual Minority Identity Integration

Although researchers and theorists have long moved away from public disclosure of sexual minority identity (i.e. coming out) as the theoretical apex of lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) identity development, it is still considered an important process of overall identity integration. Unfortunately public disclosure of sexual minority identity may be dependent upon the social environment in which disclosure occurs. Given the variable nature of social contexts, public disclosure across domains of social functioning may be problematic. Previous research has suggested that disclosure is in part more or less likely to occur based on individual appraisal of discriminative experiences (Meyer, 2013). The purpose of the present study was to extend this research by establishing a moderating effect of resilience that may help buffer against the experience of discrimination in predicting identity integration. Respondents ( n = 250) completed an online survey examining areas of outness, resilience, effect and frequency of perceived discrimination (EPD and FPD), and LGB identity status. Hierarchical regression results indicated that while resilience does not moderate EPD and FPD in predicting degree of outness, along with FPD it does independently predict outness. Additionally, post hoc regression analyses suggested variable predictive ability depending on demographic variables. Implications, limitations and future directions for these findings are discussed.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling & Counseling Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Brown, Peter Alexander

Contributors dc:contributor

• Monica Leppma
• Dennis Allen
• James W. Bartee
• Jeffrey Daniels
• Jennifer Taylor

• Counseling Psychology
• LGBTQ studies
• Personality psychology

Identifier

https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/343

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchrepository.wvu.edu:etd-1346