Identity Centrality and Well-being in Lesbian and Bisexual Women College Students

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 7 Sayı: 3, 70 - 80, 12.09.2020

Christine M. Rosner Trey W. Armstrong Michaela V. Walsh Linda G. Castillo Ankita Sahu

Öz

Identity centrality and well-being may hold relevance to lesbian and bisexual women college
students as they navigate emerging adulthood, develop their identities, and work towards greater
authenticity and self-acceptance. This study sought to investigate identity centrality clusters in a
sample of lesbian and bisexual identified college students. Drawing upon extant literature, we
hypothesized that lesbian and bisexual women would have profiles of identity centrality that
emphasize different aspects of identity and that balanced identity centrality profiles would be
associated with higher eudaimonic well-being. Six profiles (or clusters) of identity centrality were
found. Interestingly, obtained profiles differed between the group of lesbian and the group of
bisexual-identified women. Identity centrality profiles, which demonstrated high centrality across all
components (engaged/public) and those that deemphasized collective identity (low collective)
profiles, were associated with higher eudaimonic well-being among both participant groups.

Anahtar Kelimeler

identity centrality, lesbian women, bisexual women, eudaimonic well-being

Kaynakça

• Breckenridge, J. N. (2000). Validating cluster analysis: Consistent replication and symmetry. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 35, 261–285. doi: 10.1207/S15327906MBR3502_5
• Cass, V. C. (1979). Homosexual identity formation: A theoretical model. Journal of Homosexuality, 4, 219-235. doi:10.1300/J082v04n03_01
• Castillo, L. G., & Schwartz, S. J. (2013). Introduction to the special issue on college student mental health. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69, 291-297. doi:10.1002/jclp.21972
• Cheek, J. M. & Briggs, S. R. (2013). Aspects of Identity Questionnaire (AIQ-IV). Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Science. Retrieved from www.midss.ie.
• De Cáceres, M., Oliva, F., Font, X., Vives. S. (2007). GINKGO, a program for non-standard multivariate fuzzy analysis. Advances in Fuzzy Sets and Systems 2(1), 41-56. Retrieved from http://www.pphmj.com/abstract/2405.htm
• Diamond, L. M. (2006). What we got wrong about sexual identity development: Unexpected findings from a longitudinal study of young women. In A. M. Omoto and H. S. Kurtzman (Eds.), Sexual orientation and mental health: Examining identity and development in lesbian, gay, and bisexual people (pp. 73-94). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi: 10.1037/11261-000
• Dodge B. & Sandfort T.M. (2006). Mental health among bisexual individuals when compared to homosexual and heterosexual individuals. In B. A. Firestein (Ed.), Becoming visible: Counseling bisexuals across the lifespan (pp. 16-32). New York, NY: Columbia University Press. doi: 10.5860/CHOICE.45-2897
• Gore, P. A. (2000). Cluster analysis. In H. E. A. Tinsley & S. D. Brown (Eds.), Handbook of applied multivariate statistics and mathematical modeling (pp. 297-321). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. doi:10.1016/B978-0- 12-691360-6.X5000-9
• Herek, G. M. (2002). Heterosexuals' attitudes toward bisexual men and women in the United States. Journal of Sex Research, 39(4), 264-274. doi:10.1080/00224490209552150
• Huta, V., & Waterman, A. S. (2014). Eudaimonia and its distinction from hedonia: Developing a classification and terminology for understanding conceptual and operational definitions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(6), 1425-1456. doi:10.1007/s10902-013-9485-0
• Kertzner, R., Meyer, I., Stirratt, M., & Frost, D. (2009). Social and psychological well-being in lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals: The effects of race, gender, age, and sexual identity. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 79(4), 500-510. doi:10.1037/a0016848
• Kranz, D., & Pierrard, M. (2018). Beyond coming out: Relations between lesbian and gay identity formation and psychosocial well-being in young and middle adulthood. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 5(3), 283-293. doi:10.1037/sgd0000270
• Macapagal, K., Greene, G. J., Rivera, Z. A., & Mustanski, B. (2015). The best is always yet to come: Relationship stages and processes among young LGBT couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 29(3), 309–320. doi:10.1037/fam0000094
• McNulty, J. K., & Fincham, F. D. (2012). Beyond positive psychology?: Toward a contextual view of psychological processes and well-being. The American Psychologist, 67(2), 101–110. doi:10.1037/a0024572
• Meca, A.., Schwartz, S., Ritchie, R., Benitez, C., Beyers, W., Picariello, S., & Brown, E. (2015). Identity centrality and psychosocial functioning: A person-centered approach. Emerging Adulthood, 3(5), 327-339. doi:10.1177/2167696815593183
• Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674–697. doi:10.1037/0033- 2909.129.5.674
• Quinn, D. M., & Chaudoir, S. R. (2009). Living with a concealable stigmatized identity: The impact of anticipated stigma, centrality, salience, and cultural stigma on psychological distress and health. Stigma and Health, 1(S), 35-59. doi:10.1037/a0015815
• Quinn, D. M., & Earnshaw, V. A. (2011). Understanding concealable stigmatized identities: The role of identity in psychological, physical, and behavioral outcomes. Social Issues and Policy Review, 5(1), 160-190. doi:10.1111/j.1751-2409.2011.01029.x
• Riggle, E. D., Rostosky, S. S., & Danner, F. (2009). LGB identity and eudaimonic wellbeing in midlife. Journal of Homosexuality, 56(6), 786-798. doi:10.1080/00918360903054277
• Rostosky, S. S., Cardom, R. D., Hammer, J. H., & Riggle, E. D. B. (2018). LGB positive identity and psychological well-being. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 5(4), 482–489. doi:10.1037/sgd0000298
• Sedikides, C., Gaertner, L., Luke, M. A., O’Mara, E. M., & Gebauer, J. E. (2013). A three-tier hierarchy of selfpotency: Individual self, relational self, collective self. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 235-295. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-407188-9.00005-3
• Settles, I. (2004). When multiple identities interfere: The role of identity centrality. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30(4), 487-500. doi:10.1177/0146167203261885
• Snyder, M. (1979). Self-monitoring processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 12, 85-128. doi:10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60260-9
• Steinley, D., & Brusco, M. (2007). Initializing K-means batch clustering: A critical analysis of several techniques. Journal of Classification, 24, 99–121. doi:10.1007/s00357-007-0003-0
• Stryker, S., & Serpe, R. T. (1994). Identity salience and psychological centrality: Equivalent, overlapping, or complementary concepts?. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57(1), 16-35. doi:10.2307/2786972
• Waterman, A. S. (2007). On the importance of distinguishing hedonia and eudaimonia when contemplating the hedonic treadmill. American Psychologist, 62(6), 612-613. doi:10.1037/0003-066X62.6.612
• Waterman, A. S. (2011). Eudaimonic identity theory: Identity as self-discovery. In S. J. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, & V. L. Vignoles (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 357-379). New York, NY: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-7988-9
• Waterman, A. S., Schwartz, S. J., Zamboanga, B. L., Ravert, R. D., Williams, M. K., Agocha, B. V., Kim, S. Y., & Donnellan, B. M. (2010). The questionnaire for eudaimonic well-being: Psychometric properties, demographic comparisons, and evidence of validity. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5(1), 41-61. doi:10.1080/17439760903435208