Self‐disclosure to the best friend: Friendship quality and internalized sexual stigma in Italian lesbian and gay adolescents

Abstract

This study is the first contribution to the understanding of gender differences in best friendship patterns of adolescents sexual minorities. We explored friendship patterns, self‐disclosure, and internalized sexual stigma in an Italian sample of lesbian (N = 202) and gay (N = 201) adolescents (aged 14–22 years). We found gender differences in cross‐sex and cross‐orientation patterns of best friendship. Gay men (52%) reported more cross‐sex friendships than lesbians (20%). The 52% of participants had cross‐orientation friendships, and no differences were found between lesbians and gay men. Lesbian and gay men with a cross‐orientation best friend showed a lower level of internalized sexual stigma. Gay men with cross‐orientation friendship showed a low level of internalized sexual stigma and less conflict with a best friend. For gay men and lesbian participants, self‐disclosure to the best friend was better predicted by internalized sexual stigma and self‐disclosure. Future studies may provide direct comparisons between heterosexual and sexual minority individuals.

Young women with a disorder of sex development: learning to share information with health professionals, friends and intimate partners about bodily differences and infertility

“…This notion of guarding information has resonance with practices of transgendered young people in work by Goodrich (2012) and Baiocco et al . 2012 and is also seen in Anderson et al .’s (2014) findings on concealment reported by patients with bladder exstrophy. Disclosing information was considered risky due to inability to retract this information once it was in the public domain.…”

“…Some of the young women guarded personal information as a form of self-preservation to protect themselves from the potential hostility or bullying they anticipated they might encounter from others. This notion of guarding information has resonance with practices of transgendered young people in work by Goodrich (2012) and Baiocco et al 2012 and is also seen in Anderson et al's (2014) findings on concealment reported by patients with bladder exstrophy. Disclosing information was considered risky due to inability to retract this information once it was in the public domain.…”

Friendship Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals

“…In many ways, the friendship experiences of LGBT individuals are similar to the friendships of their heterosexual counterparts where LGBT and heterosexual individuals report a similar number of close friends (Galupo, 2009). Among sexual minorities, friendship patterns have also been shown to differ across gender (Baiocco et al, 2012;Galupo, 2007a) and race (Galupo, 2007a). Among sexual minorities, friendship patterns have also been shown to differ across gender (Baiocco et al, 2012;Galupo, 2007a) and race (Galupo, 2007a).…”

“…Looking at LGBT friendships in more depth, LGBT friendships have been examined using multiple perspectives including classifying friendships based on closeness with distinctions made between casual, close, and best friends (Baiocco et al, 2012;Galupo, 2009) and addressing friendship in the context of friendship dyads (e.g., Galupo, 2007b;Price, 1999), groups or networks (e.g., Tillman-Healy, 2001), and larger communities (e.g., Esterberg, 1997;Hines, 2007;Nardi, 1999). Although not always described as friendship analysis, these perspectives have been included in the research on most interpersonal relationships of LGBT individuals and are thus illustrative of LGBT friendships.…”

La transition vers la parentalité des familles homoparentales : recherche et implications cliniques

“…Différentes études montrent que les gays comme les lesbiennes ont tendance à considérer leurs amis comme des "familles de choix" (Weston, 1991), l'amitié étant la principale source de soutien affectif, fondamental pour la construction de sa propre identité (Baiocco et al, 2014). Quant à leurs amis, leur réaction positive semble confirmer ce que la littérature spécialisée disait déjà, en soulignant les aspects de proximité et de soutien (Baiocco, Laghi, Di Pomponio & Nigito, 2012). En outre, les résultats obtenus quant au degré de soutien reçu des amis hétérosexuels ou des amis homosexuels confirment également ce qui est dit dans la littéra-ture.…”