Relationship satisfaction and outness: the impact of the closet on connection

Abstract

As common as the experience of outness may be in same-gender relationships, little is known about the influence of outness on same-gender romantic relationship satisfaction. Although some researchers have found increased levels of outness to positively correlate with relationship satisfaction, others have found no relationship between outness and relationship satisfaction. Through a photovoice methodology, nine participants in same-gender couples explored the impact of outness in various social arenas on relationship satisfaction. Researchers then utilized Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to find themes of relationship satisfaction being related to outness about the relationship and legal legitimacy through marriage. Conversely, relationship dissatisfaction was related to not displaying one’s relationship across all contexts, and satisfaction was found to be impacted by partners having fear around outness, being out to support systems, and having differing levels of outness.

Keywords:

• LGBTQ
• +
• relationship satisfaction
• outness
• same-gender couples
• couple and family counseling

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Whitney P. Akers

Whitney P. Akers, Ph.D., LCMHC, NCC, ACS (She/They) is an Assistant Professor and the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program Director in the Department of Counseling at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Whitney’s research interests center on the ways in which people who identify as LGBTGEQ + experience outness, how intersections of queerness, race, class, ability, and ethnicity shape access to mental health, wellness, personhood, and survival. They have also collaborated with counselors affiliated with the Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities (SAIGE) and the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC) to create standards of care for assessment and research with LGBTGEQ + populations.

Craig S. Cashwell

Craig S. Cashwell, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, ACS is Professor in the Department of School Psychology and Counselor Education at William & Mary and an American Counseling Association (ACA) Fellow. He has over 150 publications, including 5 books, and has received multiple research awards. He also has received numerous service awards, including the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values (ASERVIC) Meritorious Service and Lifetime Service Awards, the Chi Sigma Iota Thomas J. Sweeney Professional Leadership Award, and mentoring awards from UNCG, the Southern Conference of Graduate Schools, and ACA.

Susan D. Blake

Susan D. Blake, Ph.D., LCMHCS is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor in the state of North Carolina. She is a member of the clinical faculty with the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Southern New Hampshire University. Her research interests include gender and sexuality diversity, clinical supervision, and online counselor education.

During the completion of the study, all authors were affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA. Subsequent to the time of the study, all authors have changed affiliation to the institutions indicated above.

Findings in this manuscript have been presented at the Society for Sexual, Affectional, Intersex, and Gender Expansive Identities Conference and the North Carolina Counseling Association Conference.

No financial interest or benefit has arisen from the direct applications of the current research.