Psychosocial adjustment during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood: Developmental evidence from sexual minority and heterosexual youth

Abstract

The current study used data from Waves I through III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to compare indicators of adjustment in sexual minority and heterosexual young adults. Using growth curve modeling, results indicated that, on average, all participants had low levels of depression and perceptions of social rejection that tended to decrease over time, and high levels of self-esteem and happiness that tended to increase over time. Sexual minority youth had slightly higher initial levels of depression and perceptions of social rejection, but had the same declines over time as heterosexual youth. Similarly, although sexual minority youth reported slightly lower initial levels of self-esteem and happiness, increases in these adjustment indicators over time were the same across groups. This suggests that heterosexual and sexual minority youth report few differences in the developmental course of these psychosocial outcomes. Implications are discussed and recommendations for future work are provided.