Family Support, Outness, and Psychological Well-Being in LGBTQ+ Adult Children of Immigrants

Abstract

Researchers have documented mental health issues of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) populations. Those with multiple minority identities may face greater mental health concerns due to minority stress. Little research has examined the mental health of LGBTQ+ adult children of immigrants. The objective of this study was to determine if family support, as measured by interpersonal and environmental microaggressions and microaffirmations, predicted levels of outness and levels of psychological well-being in LGBTQ+ adult children of immigrants and to assess whether family support was a moderator in the relationship between outness and well-being. 109 participants completed an online survey that included three measures and demographic information. Multiple regression showed that family support did not predict outness in LGBTQ+ adult children of immigrants, but environmental microaffirmations predicted psychological well-being and environmental microaggressions moderated the relationship between outness and psychological well-being. We discuss implications for helping professionals and future directions for research.

Keywords:

• Immigrant
• LGBTQ
• microaggression
• psychological well-being
• family support
• outness

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare. This article is based on a student’s dissertation research.