Family and Relationship Quality among Young Adults with Different Sexual Orientations in Urban China: The Mediating Effects of Life Satisfaction and Self-Esteem

ABSTRACT

This study explored the ambivalent effects of family on the close relationship quality of Chinese young adults. From a national estimate of the urban population across mainland China, 5,089 participants aged 20–39 were recruited for this study. A three-dimensional conceptualization was applied to identify three groups with different sexual orientations in this study. Group A comprised participants who identified as sexual minority people; Group B comprised participants who identified as heterosexuals but were not exclusively attracted to one sex and/or individuals who had had same-sex sexual experiences; Group C comprised participants who identified as heterosexuals. Groups A and B reported lower close relationship satisfaction and psychological well-being than Group C. Life satisfaction and self-esteem partially mediated the association between family and close relationship satisfaction for all groups. However, this relationship was weaker for Group B, and closeness to family benefitted Group B’s life satisfaction to a lesser extent, indicating that the nuanced relationship with family influenced the sexual minority people with heterosexual identities. We recommend future directions and practices in local research and policy-making.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Xuan Wu, Lan Chen, Xingyue Zhou, Fengran Dong, and Ting Hu (listed in no particular order) of the School of Psychology and Cognitive Science of East China Normal University, Ruoshui Jin of Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, and Ruofei Wen of the School of Communication of East China Normal University, for their contributions in research preparation, implementation, and presentation. This research was supported in part by grants from the Natural Diamond Council.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical Approval

Ethical approval for this study was granted by East China Normal University (approval number: HR199-2019). In this study, IRB has waived the documentation of informed consent from the participants involved in the questionnaires. All participants agreed to a digital consent form prior to any involvement in questionnaires.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2022.2117772

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by grants from the Natural Diamond Council [no. 13200-412321-19181].