Citation
Dunn, Megan Reeves (2024). A Longitudinal Examination of the Effects of Three Types of Parental Support – Autonomy, Emotional, and Instrumental – on Mental Health Outcomes of Sexual Minority Individuals.
Abstract
Although there is a plethora of research demonstrating that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals experience poor mental health outcomes compared to heterosexual individuals, there is relatively little research examining protective factors experienced among LGB adolescents that may mitigate long-term adverse outcomes. It is common for these youth to experience parent rejection, which has been shown to contribute to depression and suicidal ideation, or, in extreme cases, being disowned and/or kicked out of the home. Emerging research on various support theories suggests that receiving parental support in adolescence may mitigate mental health problems and may be especially protective for LGB youth. Looking at both LGB and heterosexual youth, the current study aims to disentangle three different types of parental support experienced in adolescence – emotional support, instrumental support, and autonomy support – associated with later depression and suicidal ideation using a nationally representative, longitudinal study (The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health or Add Health). Results indicated that LGB individuals reported significantly lower rates of parental autonomy and emotional support and higher rates of depression and suicidal ideation compared with same-age heterosexual peers. Furthermore, parental autonomy support was found to negatively predict depression and suicidal ideation for all participants, while parental emotional support negatively predicted depression only. LGB identification significantly moderated the relationship between parental emotional support and depression such that parental emotional support was more protective for LGB youth. These findings suggest that while receiving parental autonomy support and emotional support during adolescence has long-term benefits for all individuals, there may be nuanced differences for LGB and heterosexual individuals.
Keyword(s)
Autonomy support
Reference Type
Thesis/Dissertation
Author(s)
Dunn, Megan Reeves
Series Author(s)
Legate, Nicole
Year Published
2024
Pages
125
Publisher
Illinois Institute of Technology
City of Publication
United States -- Illinois
ISSN/ISBN
9798383647875
DOI
9798383647875
Reference ID
10489
