The Role of Anxiety and Fear in Sexual Orientation Self-Disclosure

Abstract

Revealing minority sexual orientation to others, or coming out, can be emotionally arousing and challenging. Yet, few studies have examined the role of emotions in sexual orientation self-disclosure. Based on cognitive coming-out message production and emotion theories, we predict that the salience of disclosure goals and relational power are two foundational antecedents to cognitive appraisals of emotions (i.e. disclosure uncertainty and perceived threat of disclosure), which predict anxiety and fear. Emotions then predict the assessment of disclosure efficacy, which in turn predicts degrees of self-disclosure. Results (N = 301 U.S. LGBQ adults) showed that more salient disclosure goals, directly and indirectly, predicted higher degrees of self-disclosure via disclosure uncertainty, anxiety and fear, and disclosure efficacy. Relational power positively predicted degrees of self-disclosure via perceived threat, fear, and disclosure efficacy. Thus, anxiety and fear are an integral part of the underlying mechanisms accounting for the message process of coming out.