Psychological Science ›› 2014, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (5): 1204-1211.

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Internalized Homophobia and Subjective Well-being among Young Gay Men: The Mediating Effect of Self-esteem and Loneliness

  

  • Received:2013-07-09 Revised:2014-05-28 Online:2014-09-20 Published:2014-09-20

年轻男同性恋者内化同性恋嫌恶与主观幸福感的关系:自尊与孤独感的中介效应

李放1,郑雪2,麦晓浩1,邬俊芳1,王一博1   

  1. 1. 华南师范大学
    2. 广州石牌华南师范大学教科院
  • 通讯作者: 郑雪

Abstract: Nowadays, as the topic of homosexuality becomes more public, mental health of homosexuals gains more and more attention. Scholars paid close attention to the impact of social prejudice on gay men and lesbians’ mental health, and they posited that homosexuals have high prevalence of mental disorders. Internalized homophobia refers to the gay person’s direction of negative social attitudes toward the self. It stems from social prejudice, and it reflects the degree to which a gay man internalized anti-homosexual sentiments of heterosexual society. So it is rooted in culture and it isn’t a personal trait. Minority stress model posits that internalized homophobia is an inner stressor which requires individuals to mobilize all kinds of resources to adapt, so it is a significant predictor of one's mental health, and there exists many factors which play the mediating role between them. However, there were still some limitations in previous researches. Firstly, no study explored the impact of Chinese culture on young gay men's internalized homophobia; Secondly, researches about the relations between internalized homophobia and positive psychological adaption were limited; At last, it is necessary to understand gay men's mental health from more general psychological process. This research is aimed at achieving three goals: (1) Explore the level of Chinese young gay men’s internalized homophobia. (2)Investigate the relations between internalized homophobia and subjective well-being. (3)Examine self-esteem and loneliness’s mediating roles between internalized homophobia and subjective well-being. A total of web-based sample of 249 young gay men were enrolled. They were 16-30 years old and all of them were the generation after 80s or 90s. Internalized homophobia was assessed with Internalized Homophobia Scale (for male respondents), this research indicated that Chinese version of IHP has acceptable reliability and validity. It consists of 8 items. Each item is administered with 1-5 point ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”. Self-esteem was examined by the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale which comprises 10 items. Loneliness was assessed with UCLA Loneliness Scale (the third version) which consists of 20 statements. Subjective well-being was rated by Affect Balance Scale and Life Satisfaction Scale. They comprise 20 items and 5 items respectively. The results indicated that: (1)The degree of Chinese young gay men internalized homophobia was a litter lower than moderate level, and a large proportion of young gay men had no internalized homophobia;(2) Internalized homophobia was negatively correlated with positive affect and life satisfaction, and it was positively correlated with negative affect; (3) Self-esteem and loneliness played a completely mediating role in the relations between internalized homophobia and subjective well-being; (4)Internalized homophobia had an effect on loneliness through self-esteem, and it also had an effect on subjective well-being through loneliness. These findings highlight that young gay men doesn’t necessarily exist high mental disorders, and they remind us that there exists some common psychological mechanisms between homosexuals and the average people. Moreover, much can be done to improve young gay men’s subjective well-being from the perspective of attitudes toward their own sexual orientation, and general psychological process such as self-esteem and loneliness should also be considered. The present study contributes to promote our understanding of psychological characteristics of Chinese young gay men, and it is beneficial to improve young gay men’s mental health.

Key words: young gay men, internalized homophobia, subjective well-being, self-esteem, loneliness

摘要: 通过网络抽样法,采用内化同性恋嫌恶量表、自尊量表、孤独感量表、主观幸福感量表对249名年轻男同性恋者进行调查,考察当代国内年轻男同性恋者内化同性恋嫌恶的现状,并探讨内化同性恋嫌恶与主观幸福感的关系及自尊与孤独感在其间的中介效应。结果表明:(1)总体上,国内年轻男同性恋者内化同性恋嫌恶处于中等偏低水平,且有较大比例年轻男同性恋者不存在内化同性恋嫌恶。(2)内化同性恋嫌恶与积极情感、生活满意度显著负相关,与消极情感显著正相关。(3)自尊与孤独感在内化同性恋嫌恶与主观幸福感间起完全中介作用。(4)内化同性恋嫌恶通过影响自尊间接影响孤独感,又通过影响孤独感作用于主观幸福感。

关键词: 年轻男同性恋者, 内化同性恋嫌恶, 主观幸福感, 自尊, 孤独感