Sexual orientation and life satisfaction

Abstract

Existing quantitative research on sexual orientation and life satisfaction uses models with control variables that do not have a clear rationale. With a correct understanding of what control variables do, no controls are necessary to estimate the consequences of sexual orientation on life satisfaction. An analysis constructed from this perspective reveals gay and bisexual men in the UK and Australia are less satisfied with their lives (relative to heterosexual men). Bisexual women in both countries are less satisfied as well. Lesbians in Australia are less satisfied (relative to straight women) – but lesbians in the UK do not have lower satisfaction. These conclusions hold also in an analysis that considers the possibility that some non-heterosexual people might be unwilling to disclose their sexual orientation on surveys.

Behavior without beliefs: Profiles of heteronormativity and well-being among heterosexual and non-heterosexual university students in Chile

“…One last notable characteristics of Profile 4 is the significant proportion of students who preferred not to disclose their sexuality. Other researchers have encouraged to observe this group ( Powdthavee and Wooden, 2015 ; Mann et al, 2019 ; Bartram, 2021 ). These are individuals who do not identify as heterosexual nor as LGBQ but report lower life satisfaction than heterosexuals.…”

“…For life satisfaction, based on previous findings (Powdthavee and Wooden, 2015;Mann et al, 2019;Bartram, 2021) and on the minority stress model (Meyer, 2003;Meyer et al, 2021), we expected that profiles with significant proportions of non-heterosexual students (LGBQ and those who preferred not to identify) would report lower life satisfaction than profiles with heterosexual students. On the contrary, the profiles with the highest proportions of LGBQ students, Profiles 2 and 3, were statistically undistinguishable from the other two profiles in terms of life satisfaction.…”

“…The link between heteronormativity and subjective well-being is an emergent interest in the literature. Researchers have reported differences in life satisfaction based on sexual orientation ( Powdthavee and Wooden, 2015 ; Pachankis and Bränström, 2018 ; Habarth et al, 2019b ; Bartram, 2021 ), and these differences may be partly explained by heteronormativity ( Mann et al, 2019 ). Life satisfaction is the cognitive component of subjective well-being, and it is a measure of the person’s assessment of their overall life conditions ( Diener et al, 1985 ).…”

“…The distinctions in life satisfaction and other well-being factors by sexual orientation are nuanced, however, as these have been observed between heterosexuals and non-heterosexuals, but also within the latter group, and with distinctions by gender and other sociodemographic characteristics. In Chile, Barrientos et al (2017) found that lesbian women reported higher life satisfaction than gay men, as the latter experience more social punishment and higher internalized homophobia ( Barrientos et al, 2017 ; Mann et al, 2019 ; Bartram, 2021 ). In the United Kingdom, Mann et al (2019) found that homosexual and bisexual people report lower life satisfaction than heterosexuals, but these distinctions are heterogeneous and depend also on gender.…”

“…In the United Kingdom, Mann et al (2019) found that homosexual and bisexual people report lower life satisfaction than heterosexuals, but these distinctions are heterogeneous and depend also on gender. Studies with samples from the United Kingdom and Australia ( Powdthavee and Wooden, 2015 ; Mann et al, 2019 ; Bartram, 2021 ) also highlight two under-researched sexual orientation groups who consistently show lower life satisfaction, due to distinct minority stressors: Bisexuals and those who identify as “other” or “prefer not to say” (i.e., to disclose their sexual orientation), the latter reportedly not being LGBQ, but also not identifying as heterosexual.…”