Internalized Homophobia and Relationship Quality among Same-Sex Couples: The Mediating Role of Intimate Partner Violence

ABSTRACT

Based on a geographically and socioeconomically diverse sample of 144 same-sex couples and using a dyadic approach (i.e., the Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model [APIMeM] with interchangeable dyads), this study examined the association between internalized homophobia and same-sex relationship quality, and also tested the potential mediating role of intimate partner violence perpetration in this association. Results indicated that individuals’ own and their partners’ psychological violence perpetration mediated the negative associations from individuals’ own internalized homophobia to individuals’ own and their partner’s relationship quality. Such findings contribute to the understanding of mechanisms underlying the harmful effects of sexual minority stressors for same-sex relationship well-being. Implications for interventions were also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• APIMeM with interchangeable dyads
• internalized homophobia
• intimate partner violence
• same-sex relationship quality
• LGBT

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Preparation of this article was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) under grant [1K01 HD075833-01] (principal investigator: W. Roger Mills-Koonce); the American Psychological Foundation’s 2015 Roy Scrivner Memorial Research Grant (principal investigator: Hongjian Cao); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under grant [2018NTSS06] (principal investigator: Nan Zhou), and a grant by 2019 Comprehensive Discipline Construction Fund of Faculty of Education [2019LWFB009], Beijing Normal University to Nan Zhou.