| Abstract: |
This research examines the roles of support, ostracism, and race/ethnicity in predicting the number of people an LGBT individual is "out" to. Disclosure or concealment of a stigmatized sexual identity are linked to numerous mental and physical health outcomes, but little is known about the differential access to and effects of predictors of outness within the LGBT community of people of color. We tested four hypotheses using a novel dataset of 2,390 LGBT respondents from across the United States, using models for four race/ethnic groups (White, Black, Hispanic, and Multiracial). First, connections with supportive communities will be associated with an increase in levels of outness. Second, activities (e.g., rallies or internet chats) based on multiple facets of identity (race and sexuality) will increase outness for LGBT people. Third, family support will predict different levels of outness across race/ethnic groups due to cultural differences in acceptance. Finally, discrimination within communities based on stigmatized identities will affect levels of outness. Each relationship is hypothesized to differ across race/ethnic groups. Feeling connected to the LGBT community predicted higher levels of outness, but only for some race/ethnic groups. Only LGBT-community-based activities predicted outness; community activities based on identification as people of color or even LGBT people of color did not predict outness. Family support predicted outness for every race/ethnic group, but had a significantly larger effect for Hispanic versus Multiracial LGBT people. Counter to our expectations, discrimination in racial/ethnic and LGBT communities was not differentially associated with outness between racial/ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |