Abstract
Minority stressors encountered by lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) women are inherently connected to contextual experiences. Although there is a growing body of research on the benefits of gaining political rights and the costs of their denial, little research has focused on the effects of access to LGB-affirmative resources. In the current study with 1,017 women in same-sex relationships, we created profiles using latent class analysis to characterize the contexts in which participants were raised and the contexts in which they lived at the time of the study. We examined differences in interpersonal relationships, internalized heterosexism (IH), and outness across these profiles. Class 1 (28%) included participants who always lived in affirmative contexts with LGB-supportive resources. Class 2 participants (28%) always lived in more heterosexist contexts with few resources. Class 3 participants (44%) originally lived in more heterosexist contexts with few resources but shifted to more affirmative contexts. Class 3 individuals had greater social support and lower IH than Class 2 participants. Classes 1 and 3 had greater outness than Class 2. This study provides evidence linking IH to the lack of contextual supports. Our data also suggest that the quality of relationships for LGB women may remain strong even in heterosexist contexts. Actions that increase affirming resources will provide avenues for more positive identity development and interpersonal relationships for LGB individuals. Online slides for instructors who want to use this article for teaching are available on PWQ's website at http://journals.sagepub.com/page/pwq/suppl/index .
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