Biphobia and Anxiety Among Bisexuals in Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Bisexuals are at greater risk for poor mental health compared with heterosexual, gay, and lesbian people. This increased risk has been attributed to biphobia yet the relationship between biphobia and mental health has been understudied. Data were collected from an Ontario-wide survey of bisexuals, broadly defined, using respondent-driven sampling (N = 405), and minority stress theory was applied to examine the relationship between biphobia (from the straight community and gay/lesbian community separately) and anxiety using structural equation modelling. In contrast to our hypothesis, biphobia had little impact on anxiety. Results suggest that we need to enhance our capacity to measure discrimination.

KEYWORDS:

• bisexual
• anxiety
• biphobia
• resilience
• Canada