A communication and identity process that mediates parents’ nonaccommodation and sexual minorities’ mental well-being

Abstract

This study tested sexual minorities’ (SM) surface acting with parents, identity gaps with family, and perceived stress as serial mediators of parents’ nonaccommodation and SM’s mental well-being (i.e., mental health and self-esteem). Participants included 205 sexual minorities who reported on their parents’ unwanted advice about their sexual identity and the degree to which they emphasized divergent values in conversations about LGBTQ+ issues. For both mental health and self-esteem, significant and negative indirect effects emerged for both mother’s and father’s nonaccommodation through a sequence of SM’s surface acting, to personal-enacted identity gap, to perceived stress. These indirect effects, however, were moderated by relational closeness with each parent. Consequently, unwanted advice about children’s SM identities and messages that emphasize divergent values may be harmful even if family relations do not appear overtly contentious or hostile.