Sexual identity fluidity, identity management stress, and depression among sexual minority adolescents

Frontiers in Psychology

article

William J. Hall¹  Evan A. Krueger²  Jeremy T. Goldbach³  Ankur Srivastava¹ 

[1] School of Social Work, The University of North Carolina;School of Social Work, Tulane University;Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis

关键词: sexual minority adolescents;    Depression;    sexual identity fluidity;    LGBTQ (Lesbian;    Gay;    Bisexual;    trans;    queer/questioning);    sexual identity change;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1075815

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Introduction: Sexual identity is mutable and evolving, particularly during adolescence. Sexual identity fluidity could be stressful for some adolescents and may differ by birth-sex. Evidence suggests chronic stress can lead to negative mental health outcomes. However, it is unknown if these two processes (stress and depression) differ by sexual identity fluidity. Methods: This paper studied time-sequential associations between identity management stress and depression over time by sexual identity fluidity, in a national longitudinal data from sexual minority adolescents (SMA) aged 14–17 years using a multigroup autoregressive cross-lagged model (n = 1077). Results: In the sample, 40% of SMA reported at least one change in sexual identity over 18-month period. Greater number of cisgender females reported sexual identity fluidity compared to their male counterparts (46.9% versus 26.6%). A temporal cross-lagged effect was reported between depression and identity management stress among cisgender females who reported fluidity in sexual identity; and no cross-lagged effect was reported among those females who did not report fluidity. However, among cisgender male sample depression predicted subsequent identity management stress, irrespective of their change sexual identity fluidity status. Conclusion: Public health programs and practice must be responsive to the sexual identity fluidity processes among adolescents, with particular attention to minority stress and depression. In addition, our results indicate that sexual identity development and fluidity processes differ between cisgender females and males; and the nuances associated with these processes of change need further investigation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY