Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Oct;39(10):1148-63.
doi: 10.1007/s10964-010-9557-y. Epub 2010 Jun 10.

Relationship trajectories and psychological well-being among sexual minority youth

José A Bauermeister  1 , Michelle Marie Johns, Theo G M Sandfort, Anna Eisenberg, Arnold H Grossman, Anthony R D'Augelli
Affiliations

Relationship trajectories and psychological well-being among sexual minority youth

José A Bauermeister et al. J Youth Adolesc. 2010 Oct.

Abstract

Dating in adolescence plays an integral part in the development of sexual and social identities. This process is particularly salient for sexual minority youth who face additional obstacles to their identity formation due to their marginalized status. We investigated the influence of participating in a same-sex relationship (SSR) or an opposite-sex relationship (OSR) on sexual minority youths' psychological well-being (i.e., symptoms of depression, anxiety and internalized homophobia, and self-esteem) in an ethnically-diverse sample of 350 youth (55% male) between the ages of 15-19 years, recruited from three GLBT drop-in centers in the New York City area. Using longitudinal data, we examined youths' SSR and OSR over time. Multivariate regression analyses suggest that involvement in a SSR was positively associated with changes in self-esteem in males, and negatively correlated with changes in internalized homophobia in females. We discuss the implications for positive development in sexual minority adolescent populations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bauermeister JA, Morales M, Seda G, González-Rivera M. Sexual prejudice among Puerto Rican young adults. Journal of Homosexuality. 2008;53(4):135–161. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bauermeister JA, Zimmerman MA, Caldwell CH, Xue Y, Gee GC. What predicts sex partners' age differences among African American youth? A longitudinal study from adolescence to young adulthood. Journal of Sex Research. 2009;46:1–15. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beck AT. Beck Depression Inventory II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation; 1996.
    1. Binson D, Blair J, Huebner DM, Woods WJ. Sampling in surveys of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. In: Meyer IH, Northridge ME, editors. The health of sexual minorities: public health perspectives on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Populations. New York, NY: Springer; 2007. pp. 375–418.
    1. Bos HMW, Sandfort TGM, Bruyn EH, Hakvoort EM. Same-Sex attraction, social relationships, psychosocial functioning, and school performance in early adolescence. Developmental Psychology. 2008;44(1):59–68. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms