‘Coming out’, context and reason: first disclosure of sexual orientation and its consequences

Abstract

For many, ‘coming out’ to family members represents a critical milestone in lesbian, gay and bisexual development. This study explores the cognitive aspects of ‘coming out’ focusing on the inductive and deductive reasoning used by the authors of 400 ‘coming out’ stories and the conditional responses that followed. Results indicated that men were more likely to use inductive reasoning than deductive when compared to women. Furthermore, among those who reported conditionals being set or agreed upon, the majority were emotional in nature. This investigation suggests that there is a great deal to be learned about the nature of the reasoning employed by young lesbian, gay and bisexual people ‘coming out’ to family members, which may better inform those who counsel them.

Keywords:

• coming out
• disclosure
• reasoning
• conditionals
• consequences