Romantic involvement and mental health in sexual and gender minority emerging adults assigned female at birth

Abstract

We examined whether romantic relationship involvement, a well-established protective factor against mental health problems among heterosexual adults, is also protective for sexual and gender minority emerging adults assigned female at birth (SGM-AFAB), a group at high risk for mental health issues. Using cross-sectional data from a community sample of 222 SGM-AFAB ages 18–20 years, we assessed associations between current relationship involvement and five mental health variables: depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, alcohol use problems, cannabis use problems, and illicit drug use. There were no differences by romantic involvement in problematic cannabis use or other illicit drug use. Overall, participants in a relationship reported fewer depressive symptoms, fewer anxiety symptoms, and less problematic alcohol use than participants who were single. Some associations differed, however, by participant gender identity, sexual orientation identity, and partner gender. Specifically, relationship involvement was associated with fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms for cisgender female participants ( n = 154) but not for gender minority participants ( n = 68) and for lesbian participants ( n = 38) but not for bisexual/pansexual participants ( n = 134) or those with other sexual orientation identities ( n = 50). Participants romantically involved with a cisgender female partner ( n = 43) had fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms than single participants ( n = 100), those with a cisgender male partner ( n = 56), and those with a gender minority partner (n = 23). Together, these findings suggest that romantic involvement may promote mental health for many, but not all, SGM young adults, highlighting the importance of attending to differences among SGM subgroups in research and efforts to reduce mental health and substance use disparities.

Within-person associations between romantic involvement and mental health among sexual and gender minorities assigned female-at-birth.

“…Across time, participants reported less anxiety and depression when involved with a female partner than when involved with male or gender minority partners. These within-person findings echo previous between-subjects findings that SGM-AFAB emerging adults dating cisgender women reported less depression and anxiety than those dating a cisgender man or a gender minority individual (Whitton et al, 2020) and that same-sex but not different-sex relationships were associated with higher psychological wellbeing among sexual minority adolescents (Bauermeister et al, 2010;Russell & Consolacion, 2003). These findings may reflect how women report receiving less social support from male than from female partners (Donnelly et al, 2019), or unique stressors young SGM-AFAB face when romantically involved with men or gender minorities.…”

“…Though the effects of romantic involvement on substance use problems were stronger for longterm commitments than for dating relationships, they were present across relationship status. Together with previous evidence of positive between-person (e.g., Kornblith et al, 2016;Parsons et al, 2013;Whitton et al, 2020) and within-person effects of relationship involvement on the psychological health and substance use of young SGM (Whitton et al, 2018a,b), these findings support romantic involvement as a broad protective factor for the mental health of young SGM.…”

“…Being in a relationship has been cross sectionally associated with fewer depressive symptoms (Ayala & Coleman, 2000; Kornblith et al, 2016; Oetjen & Rothblum, 2000) and less alcohol consumption (Veldhuis et al, 2020) among lesbian adults. Similarly, a study of SGM-AFAB emerging adults aged 18–20 years (which used baseline data from a subsample of the participants whose longitudinal data are used in the present study) found that participants in a relationship reported fewer depressive symptoms, fewer anxiety symptoms, and less problematic alcohol use—but not problematic marijuana use—than single participants (Whitton et al, 2020). Beyond these cross-sectional findings, which indicate between-person effects (i.e., that currently partnered SGM report better psychological health than currently single SGM), there is also some evidence of within-person effects.…”

“…Consequently, little is known about how romantic involvement may affect the mental health of the growing numbers of AFAB who identify as transgender men (e.g., are AFAB and identify as men; Flores et al, 2016) and as gender non-binary (e.g., genderqueer, gender non-conforming; Richards et al, 2016). In one exception, romantic involvement was cross-sectionally associated with fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms for SGM-AFAB young adults who identified as cisgender, but not for those who identified as transgender or gender nonbinary (Whitton et al, 2020). This initial finding highlights the need for research that uses samples inclusive of gender minorities.…”

“…Outness was assessed by a single item (How out are you to the people around you?) on a scale of 0 (not out to anyone) to 3 (out to everyone).1 Cross-sectional associations of romantic involvement and mental health using baseline data only from a subset of 222 FAB400 participants aged 18-20 years were reported inWhitton et al (2020).…”