Disclosure Stress, Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms Among Cisgender Bisexual Youth

Bisexual youth are at elevated risk for depression when compared with lesbians and gay men. Research on bisexual stigma suggests that these youth are uniquely vulnerable to stress related to sexual identity disclosure. Depression associated with this stress may be buffered by social support from par...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marriage and family 2017-10, Vol.79 (5), p.1278-1294
Main Authors: Pollitt, Amanda M., Muraco, Joel A., Grossman, Arnold H., Russell, Stephen T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
and transgender
bisexual
Bisexuality
Children
Cisgender
Coming out
coping
depression
Disclosure
Family support
Friendship
gay
Gays & lesbians
Gender differences
Gender identity
Homosexuality
Identity
lesbian
Lesbianism
LGBTQ people
Mental depression
Parents & parenting
Relatives
resiliency
Self esteem
Sex differences
Sexual Identity
Sexual Minorities
Sexual Orientation
Sexuality
Social support
Stigma
Stress
Structural equation modeling
Symptoms
Vulnerability
Young adults
Youth
youth/emergent adulthood
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Summary:Bisexual youth are at elevated risk for depression when compared with lesbians and gay men. Research on bisexual stigma suggests that these youth are uniquely vulnerable to stress related to sexual identity disclosure. Depression associated with this stress may be buffered by social support from parents and friends. We examined the differential influence of social support from parents and friends (Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale) on the relation between disclosure stress (LGBTQ Coming Out Stress Scale) and depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory) and differences by gender in a sample of cisgender bisexual youth (N = 383) using structural equation modeling. Parental support buffered the association between stressful disclosure to family and depressive symptoms, especially for bisexual men; bisexual women seemed not to benefit from such support when disclosure stress was high. This nuanced examination elucidates the ways family members and clinicians can best support bisexual youth sexual identity disclosure.
ISSN:0022-2445
1741-3737
DOI:10.1111/jomf.12418