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This article reviews the conceptualization of, and empirical literature on, lesbians’ and bisexual women's sexual minority stress. In much of the early research, the experiences of sexual minority women and men were considered together (or women's experiences were inferred from men's), obscuring important differences. There is empirical and theoretical justification to consider the experiences of women and men separately and to develop and evaluate comprehensive models of sexual minority stress for women. Existing conceptualizations of sexual minority stress that include assessment of discrimination, victimization, harassment, concealment, internalized homonegativity may be applied, and perhaps adapted, to facilitate understanding of the unique stressors associated with women's sexual minority status. Future research must include mediators of the relationship between stressors and outcomes such as individual (e.g., coping and resilience) and group (e.g., social support, identification with a sexual minority community) resources. It is also essential to understand what factors may buffer the deleterious effects of these stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of the current study was to examine the content of the expressive writing journals of female sexual minorities. In addition, the relationship between the content of expressive writing journals and mood and perceived stress measured two months later was examined. Journal content was also examined as a function of demographic characteristics. Thirty-nine participants each wrote a total of six journal entries about significant stressful or traumatic events or recurring problems they have experienced as lesbians. Topics that participants wrote about were differentness, leading a double life, coming out, discrimination, rejection, fears of rejection and safety, self-acceptance, and same- and opposite-sex intimate experiences. Themes of feeling different, negative coming out experiences, and negative same-sex intimate experiences were associated with more psychological distress two months after the expressive writing exercise. Occupational level was associated with themes related to leading a double life and negative same-sex and coming out experiences. These results arc considered in light of the unique minority Stressors experienced by lesbians as well as the difficulties inherent in lesbians having ties to both lesbian and heterosexual cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Via open-ended responses, we examined causal attributions generated for disclosing or not disclosing personal information to one's mother, father, same-sex friend, and dating partner. Participants (238 male and female college students) frequently mentioned having a close relationship/trusting the other and seeking social support to explain disclosure, as well as protecting the other and fear of losing the other's respect as reasons not to disclose. Certain attributions (e.g., duty to inform, privacy concerns, protecting the other, superficial relationship) were mentioned selectively to explain disclosure or nondisclosure to particular types of relationship partners. The findings illustrate goals that are consistent with social exchange/interdependence and privacy theories of disclosure decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College students described an experience, feeling, or private characteristic that they considered to be very personal. These descriptions were coded into ten different categories, including self-concept/self-image, romantic relationships, sex, psychological problems, abuse/assault, death/illness, family relationships, moral issues/illegal activities, unplanned pregnancy, friendships, plus a miscellaneous category. The self-descriptions of personal topics were related to disclosure to various relationship targets. Generally, disclosure was most frequent to same-sex friends and dating partners, less frequent to mothers, and least frequent to fathers. The study demonstrated how asking participants to identify their personal information is a useful first step in understanding disclosure decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experimental study examined social comparison activity among individuals with diabetes, focusing on how they react to information that other people are functioning well or poorly with their own diabetes prognosis and psychological adjustment. Based on a 3 × 3 factorial design, individuals with diabetes ( n = 108) read one of nine interviews about another person whose diabetes prognosis and psychological adjustment were described as good, poor, or unspecified. Ratings were obtained on participants' desire to seek information and affiliate with the target as well as on evaluations of their own physical and psychological coping. Results indicated that individuals desired more emotional support from someone who was well adjusted than poorly adjusted in coping with diabetes, and they avoided seeking information from someone who was doing poorly psychologically. Participants also perceived their diabetes condition as better when they compared themselves against someone doing poorly than well, especially on the diabetes prognosis dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]