Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

Despite representing the largest subgroup of the LGBTQ+ community, bisexual individuals have long faced marginalization and erasure in psychological research on LGBTQ+ issues, which has often lumped bisexual individuals together with lesbians and gay men or excluded them altogether. Such practices fail to acknowledge the unique discriminatory experiences bisexual individuals face at the hands of heterosexual people as well as lesbians and gay men, and how these minority stressors contribute to distinctly poorer mental health and relationship outcomes for bisexual individuals. Although bisexuality research is still in its early stages and many gaps in the literature remain, a few recent studies suggest that having internalized negative attitudes about ones bisexuality, concealing ones bisexual identity from others, feeling socially isolated and disconnected from the bisexual community, and having a different-gender partner may predict poorer psychological well-being and relationship quality. This study aimed to clarify the nature of these associations, as well as examine sexual satisfaction as a possible predictor of relationship satisfaction and less internalized binegativity. Participants who identified as bisexual, were over 18-years old, and were currently in a monogamous relationship were recruited through snowball sampling. The criterion variables were the participants psychological well-being and relationship satisfaction as measured by their scores on the Everyday Feeling Questionnaire and the Relationship Assessment Scale, respectively. The predictor variables were partner gender as indicated in the demographic questionnaire, scores on the Illegitimacy of Bisexuality, Internalized Binegativity, and Identity Affirmation subscales of the Bisexual Identity Inventory, the Connectedness to the Bisexual Community Scale, the Disclosure and Concealment subscales of the Nebraska Outness Scale, the Friendship Scale, and the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale. It was hypothesized that greater psychological well-being and sexual satisfaction would both predict greater relationship satisfaction, and that greater reported levels of internalized binegativity and having a different-gender partner would predict lower levels of both psychological well-being and relationship satisfaction. Additionally, we predicted that outness would moderate the association between psychological well-being and levels of connectedness to the bisexual community such that the association between psychological well-being and connectedness would be stronger among those with higher levels of outness. Also, we predicted that social support would mediate the relation between bisexual community connectedness and psychological well-being such that more connectedness would be associated with more social support, which would then be associated with psychological well-being. Furthermore, we hypothesized an indirect serial mediation pathway linking greater reported outness to greater relationship satisfaction through greater bisexual-specific community connectedness and perceived social support. Lower internalized binegativity, greater sexual satisfaction, and having a different-gender partner all significantly predicted greater relationship satisfaction and less psychological distress. Low levels of concealment predicted less psychological distress among people with strong connections to the bisexual community. Greater levels of disclosure predicted more psychological distress among non-cisgender people (but not cisgender people) with high community connectedness. Greater community connectedness indirectly predicted less psychological distress through greater perceived social support. Among people with different-gender partners, lower concealment predicted greater community connectedness, greater social support, and greater relationship satisfaction, respectively. Results are discussed in terms of how the studys findings can educate and inform mental health providers, researchers, and community organizers on how to better address the unique needs of bisexual populations.

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