Social Support, Ethnic Identity, and Sexual Identity of Lesbians and Gay Men

Abstract

Social support, sexual identity development, and ethnic identity development play key roles in individuals’ health and well-being. This study explores social support and identity variables in samples of ethnic minority (N = 297) and White (N = 294) lesbians and gay men. Ethnic minority participants as well as white participants reported generally high levels of satisfaction with social support, strong ethnic and sexual identities, and high levels of outness. Significant differences were found between satisfaction with overall social support and satisfaction with support for same-gender identity for all participants, and significant differences were found between White and ethnic minority participants in levels of outness. Positive relationships were found among coming out, ethnic identity, and satisfaction with support for the ethnic minority participants. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• social support
• sexual identity
• ethnic identity
• gay
• lesbian

Notes

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

1. In decreasing frequency of mention (with respective percent of mention for White and ethnic minority participants), the relationships not listed in Table 2 included the following: parent(s) (17.5, 13.5), supervisor/employer (9.8, 10.8), children (11.4, 6.7), therapist/psychiatrist (8.4, 5.1), religious figure (8.4, 6.1), sibling (s) (8.1, 6.1), roommate (7.7, 6.4), partner's family member (7.7, 5.4), professor/advisor (6.4, 4.0), stepmother (6.4, 3.0), stepfather (4.0, 4.0), LGBT community (2.4, 5.4).