Daily heterosexism experiences and well-being among LGB young adults: The moderating role of attachment style.

Abstract

This study examined within-person links between daily heterosexism experiences and well-being among lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults, and tested the hypothesis that attachment insecurity amplifies the negative impact of heterosexism on well-being. A sample of 82 lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults completed a measure of attachment style at the start of the study, and then reported on heterosexism experiences and facets of well-being in Internet surveys at the end of each day for 7-10 consecutive days (total of 706 days in the sample). Multilevel regression was used to test the interaction between attachment variables (anxiety and avoidance) and the presence of everyday heterosexism experiences in predicting 3 facets of daily well-being (self-assurance, anger, and fear). Results indicated that attachment variables moderated the within-person link between daily heterosexism experiences and well-being for anger and fear but not for self-assurance. As hypothesized, daily heterosexism was positively related to daily anger and fear for people with higher levels of avoidance but not those with lower levels of avoidance (controlling for previous day levels of well-being). Contrary to hypothesis, however, daily heterosexism was positively associated with anger and fear for participants with low levels of attachment anxiety but not for those with higher levels of attachment anxiety. Analyses also revealed no links between the attachment variables and frequency of heterosexism experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record