Concealing sexual or gender identity linked to daily distress in study
University of Michigan researchers tracked 252 young adults and found identity concealment was tied to emotional strain in daily life.
By Priya Raghavan · Science Reporter
3 min read
Sexual and gender minority young adults who felt pressure to keep their identities hidden reported more emotional strain in the moment, according to a University of Michigan study. The findings matter because they point to everyday interactions as one route through which identity-related stress may affect mental health.
The study, published in Clinical Psychological Science, followed 252 sexual and gender minority young adults for eight days. Researchers collected more than 4,300 real-time reports on participants’ emotions, social interactions and experiences related to being open or private about their identities.
According to the University of Michigan team, participants who concealed their sexual or gender identities reported more distress and less certainty about their sense of self. Participants who felt able to be open reported greater self-understanding, confidence and positive feelings about their identities.
Sienna Nielsen, a University of Michigan psychology graduate student and the study’s lead author, said the findings suggest that daily experiences tied to whether people can be visible about who they are may help shape emotional well-being.
How the study was conducted
The researchers examined how participants felt in specific moments when they either concealed or expressed their identities. The sample was made up primarily of bi+ cisgender women and nonbinary people who were assigned female at birth, according to the study description.
The team looked at links among identity concealment, outness, emotional reactions, depression symptoms and what the researchers called identity functioning, including self-clarity and positive feelings about identity.
The University of Michigan said sexual and gender minority populations experience higher rates of depression than people outside those groups. The researchers said much of the existing work documents broad disparities, while less is known about how those pressures appear in daily life.
Findings on depression were more limited
The researchers did not find a direct connection between day-to-day identity experiences and depression symptoms during the study period. They did find that negative emotions appeared to play an indirect role, especially when participants felt pushed to hide parts of themselves.
According to Nielsen and her colleagues, the results add evidence that social norms and institutional policies restricting identity expression can carry mental health costs. The team said those effects may occur not only over long periods, but also in the specific moments when someone feels they cannot be open.
The researchers said the findings also point to the value of strong queer communities, particularly amid anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes and legislation. They described the study as a basis for further research into ways to reduce mental health disparities among sexual and gender minority people.
The paper’s authors are Nielsen, Craig Rodriguez-Seijas and Aidan Wright of the University of Michigan, and Sophia Choukas-Bradley of the University of Pittsburgh. The paper is titled “Depression, Identity Functioning, and Negative Affective Reactivity to Sexual- and Gender-Minority Concealment and Outness in Daily Life in a Predominantly Female Bi+ Sample.”
This story draws on original reporting from Medical Xpress.