Poster #77 - Unintended Disclosure in School: Implications for Sexual Minority Youth Social Relationship and Mental Health

• In Event: Poster Session 02

Abstract

As societal awareness and acceptance of diverse sexual orientation have increased in the past few decades, sexual minority communities have become more visible in society (Stewart et al., 2019). Yet, sexual minority youth (SMY) still experience hostile social contexts and mental health disparities (Russell & Fish, 2016). Thus, being one of the pivotal milestones in the integration of sexual orientation, disclosure of sexual orientation to others not only allows SMY to access resources such as family or school support (Salway et al., 2018; Zhao, Toomey, & Anhalt, 2021), but also exposes SMY to risks such as sexual orientation-based victimization, family abuse, and resultant compromised mental health (e.g., depression, life satisfaction; Jackson & Mohr, 2016; Timmins et al., 2020). Based on the disclosure process model (Chaudoir & Fisher, 2010), disclosure is beneficial when SMY disclose with positive cues in the environment. SMY’s intention of disclosure is essential in this process (i.e., to pursue positive outcomes). However, to our knowledge, no studies have examined the contribution of unintended disclosure on SMY’s health, including a third person disclosing one’s sexual orientation without permission (i.e., outing) or a third person forcing SMY to disclose (i.e., forced disclosure). The current study examined the contribution of outing and forced disclosure on SMY’s social relationships and mental health.
The sample consisted of 420 participants (ages 14 to 24; M=18.28, SD=2.21) from the U.S. who self-identified as SMY and were enrolled in school. Participants were recruited by Qualtrics Panel Services. Two questions were asked to assess participants’ experiences with outing (i.e., “I was "outed" by someone in school without my permission.”) and forced disclosure (i.e., “I was forced to come out in school because I got “caught”). Path analysis was conducted to test associations of outing and forced disclosure with perceived school support, perceived family support, family emotional abuse, sexual orientation-based victimization, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. A series of control variables were included in the analysis (see Table 1).
Demographic information and bivariate correlations are shown in Table 1. As shown in Table 2, path analyses indicated that outing is positively associated with family emotional abuse, sexual orientation-based victimization, and depressive symptoms. Forced disclosure is positively associated with family emotional abuse.
The current study is the first to have explicitly examined the adverse contribution of unintended disclosure, as operationally distinguished from intended disclosure, among SMY. Our findings highlight that both outing and forced disclosure in school are detrimental to SMY social experiences and mental health. That is, when a third person disclosed SMY in school, SMY are more likely to experience family emotional abuse, sexual orientation-based victimization, and depressive symptoms. When SMY is forced by a third person to disclose, SMY also experience higher levels of family emotional abuse. Neither outing nor forced disclosure contribute to optimal experiences in SMY’s social relationships and mental health. Implications for promoting positive disclosure and concealment experiences among sexual diverse youth in schools and for their psychosocial well-being will be discussed.

Authors

• Zhenqiang Zhao, Fordham University
  Presenting Author

• Russell B Toomey, University of Arizona