Internalized Homophobia and Intimate Partner Violence in Young Adult Women’s Same-Sex Relationships

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV), internalized homophobia, and psychological maladjustment in a convenience sample of young adult women. Rates of psychological and physical abuse in women’s same-sex relationships were shown to be commensurate to previously reported rates of violence in the IPV literature; rates of sexual coercion were also ascertained. A relationship was found between Moral and Religious Attitudes Toward Lesbianism (MRATL), a dimension of internalized homophobia, and the perpetration of sexual coercion. As expected, internalized homophobia was connected to psychological maladjustment. In addition, both the perpetration of psychological aggression and physical violence were associated with emotional instability. The study findings are discussed within the current body of literature on IPV.

Keywords:

• bisexual
• emotion regulation
• emotional instability
• homonegativity
• internalized homophobia
• intimate partner violence
• lesbian
• same sex

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Michael J. Kallan for his assistance with statistical analysis.