1087 - BEYOND THE CLOSET: EXAMINING SEXUAL MINORITY OUTNESS, SOCIAL VIGILANCE, AND THE ROLES OF DISCRIMINATION AND BELONGING

Session: P_D03S002 - Poster Session 2 - Division 3
AUTHORS:
Straughan Anna (University of North Texas ~ Denton ~ United States of America) , Kaminski Patricia (University of North Texas ~ Denton ~ United States of America) , Griggs Tosha (University of North Texas ~ Denton ~ United States of America)
Abstract text:
Introduction: Even with increased societal acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities, LGBTQ+ individuals continue to experience discrimination (NASEM, 2020). While LGBTQ+ identity disclosure may alleviate the burden of concealment (Kosciw et al., 2015), it may expose individuals to discrimination (Wall et al., 2022). Social vigilance is linked to experiences of discrimination (Timmins et al., 2017). A sense of belonging may act as a buffer against discrimination (Perrin et al., 2020).


Purpose: Few studies have examined social vigilance in LGBTQ+ populations or the relationship between heterosexism and social vigilance.


Method: The current study utilized an archival dataset of 248 sexual minority identifying individuals. Participants were recruited through a university in the south-central region of the United States. Participants between the ages of 18 and 29 completed an online survey and answered demographic questions, indicated contexts they were "out" in, and completed the Heterosexist Harassment, Rejection, and Discrimination Scale, Social Vigilance Questionnaire, and the Sense of Belonging Instrument.


Results: We used PROCESS Macro (Hayes, 2013) to run a mediated moderation model examining the relationship between outness of sexual orientation, social vigilance, if heterosexist discrimination mediated this relationship, and if sense of belonging moderated this relationship. The current study did not observe any significant relationships in our proposed model. Preliminary analyses revealed monosexual individuals were more out than polysexual individuals.


Conclusions: Limitations of the current study include using a general sense of belonging measure instead of an LGBTQ+ specific belonging measure and a young university sample recruited through snowball sampling. Polysexual individuals may experience unique discrimination that explains the observed lower levels of outness. The sample was collected at a university that has historically been accepting and affirming to LGBTQ+ students, which may explain the unexpected non-significant findings. Future research should explore global differences in LGBTQ+ individuals' "coming out" experiences.