It's okay: examining stressful PDA experiences and sexual minority well-being
LE3 .A278 2022
2022
Holmberg, Diane Blair, Karen
Acadia University
Master of Science
Masters
Psychology
For sexual minority individuals, same-sex public displays of affection (a.k.a., PDAs) can elicit a negotiation of potential risks and benefits. Experiencing prejudice when engaging in PDA or refraining from PDA out of concern for safety may undermine a sexual minority person’s basic psychological needs to feel autonomous in their actions and connected with their romantic partner. Research suggests that basic need-thwarting experiences can undermine a person’s well-being in the moment and over time in the form of memories. This study investigated processes that may facilitate sexual minority well-being in the face of memories of stressful PDA experiences: a) the ability to associate a negative PDA memory with more positive, need-satisfying memories and b) self-compassion. LGBTQ+-identified adults (N = 129) completed an online survey on LGBTQ+ experiences of affection-sharing. Participants described a memory of a negative PDA experience and up to three memories spontaneously associated with the initial memory (i.e., networked memories). For each memory, participants rated how satisfied they felt in their needs for autonomy and relatedness at the time the recalled event occurred. They also completed measures of self-compassion, and momentary and person-level well-being. Preliminary (i.e., bivariate) analyses revealed that recalling a memory of a past negative PDA experience was related to situational mood but was not predictive of overall sexual minority well-being—suggesting potential resilience to couple-level minority stress. In multiple regression analyses, neither need satisfaction in memory networks nor self-compassion exerted a moderating effect on the link between the negative PDA memory and well-being outcomes. Nonetheless, results showed that sexual minority individuals who are more compassionate with themselves experience better well-being, suggesting that self-compassion is a worthwhile aim of LGBTQ+-affirmative psychological care.
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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:3877
