Living a romantic relationship as an LGB+ person: Individual, relational, and socio-cultural dimensions

Historically, psychological and relationship research has mainly focused on investigating the functioning and well-being of heterosexual individuals and their relationships. But, in recent years, an ever-growing body of research has been concerned with exploring the functioning of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals functioning and their relationships. Results seem to suggest that relationships between lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority individuals (LGB+) are quite similar to those between heterosexual individuals in terms of general functioning and satisfaction and that even in sexual minorities, romantic relationships can promote better health. The understanding of the links between relationship functioning and health is essential to the development of couple-based intervention: pinpointing the predictors of relationship functioning is pivotal to improving individuals’ and relationships’ well-being. On the one hand, relationships between LGB+ individuals seem to be similar to those between heterosexual individuals, but on the other hand, the development of intervention and prevention programs aimed at enhancing and strengthening LGB+ individuals’ relationships based exclusively on heterosexual models can be detrimental to their relevance and effectiveness. Indeed, is extremely important to consider the social context and each partner’s intrapersonal experiences, which are very critical for LGB+ individuals and couples. Therefore, a better comprehension of LGB+ relationships’ functioning is pivotal to promoting both individual and relational well-being. The present work aims to investigate the relationships between couples, individuals, and contextual factors and dimensions in lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals involved in romantic relationships. It investigates how stressors external from the couples and relational dimensions contribute to individual and relationship well-being, and how romantic relationship quality can help them with their individual well-being. This dissertation is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 presented the theoretical frameworks outlining the studies included in this thesis. Moreover, it explores in depth the main dimensions investigated, seeking to make clear their role and importance in influencing the individual and relational well-being of sexual minority people. Chapter 2 contains the first study of this doctoral thesis which aim to investigate the psychophysical impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a predictor of same-sex couples’ conflicts and the role of internalized sexual stigma in this relation in a sample of 232 Italian lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals involved in same-sex relationships. Chapter 3 contains the second study, which aims to assess the role of dyadic adjustment (the set of couple satisfaction, dyadic consensus, couple cohesion, and affective expressions) as a predictor of perceived social support in a sample of 242 Italian lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals involved in same-sex relationships. This is an exploratory study that investigates if dyadic adjustment could be considered a stronger predictor of perceived social support than minority stressors. Chapter 4 contains the third study, which aims to investigate the role of coming out as a predictor of interiorized binegativity in a sample of 157 Italian bisexual women involved in same-gender and different-gender relationships. It assessed how relationship type according to partners’ gender (different/same-gender couples) could moderate this relation and the role of relationship commitment as a moderator of this moderation.