Couple-level Minority Stress: An Examination of Same-sex Couples’ Unique Experiences
2017/10/16 by David M. Frost, Allen J. LeBlanc, Brian de Vries +3 · 127 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Clinical psychology #Developmental psychology #LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy #Minority stress #Prejudice (legal term) #Psychology #Racial and Ethnic Identity Research #Sexual minority #Sexual orientation #Social psychology #Social stress #Stress (linguistics) #Stressor #Timeline
paper · doi:10.1177/0022146517736754
published in Journal of Health and Social Behavior 58(4), 455-472 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2017/10/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
Abstract
Social stress resulting from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination-"minority stress"-negatively impacts sexual minority individuals' health and relational well-being. The present study examined how being in a same-sex couple can result in exposure to unique minority stressors not accounted for at the individual level. Relationship timeline interviews were conducted with 120 same-sex couples equally distributed across two study sites (Atlanta and San Francisco), gender (male and female), and relationship duration (at least six months but less than three years, at least three years but less than seven years, and seven or more years). Directed content analyses identified 17 unique couple-level minority stressors experienced within nine distinct social contexts. Analyses also revealed experiences of dyadic minority stress processes (stress discrepancies and stress contagion). These findings can be useful in future efforts to better understand and address the cumulative impact of minority stress on relational well-being and individual health.
Citations
Cited by
- Parenthood and Well‐Being: A Decade in Review
- A Marriage Premium for Whom? Sexual Identity, Relationship Status and Earnings
- Dyadic coping and marital quality in same-sex and different-sex marriages
- Clarifying the Association Between Proximal Minority Stress and Relationship Satisfaction Among Partnered Latter-Day Saint Sexual Minoritized Adults: The Roles of Authenticity and Community Connectedness
- Sexual Satisfaction in Spanish Same-Sex Couples: Testing the Interpersonal Exchange Model of Sexual Satisfaction
- Queer Intimacies: A New Paradigm for the Study of Relationship Diversity
- Healthcare Work in Marriage: How Gay, Lesbian, and Heterosexual Spouses Encourage and Coerce Medical Care. [europepmc]
- Psychological Distress Transmission in Same-sex and Different-sex Marriages. [europepmc]
- Sexual Orientation and Diabetes During the Transition to Adulthood. [europepmc]
- Can Spouses Buffer the Impact of Discrimination on Depressive Symptoms? An Examination of Same-sex and Different-sex Marriages. [europepmc]
- Measuring a New Stress Domain: Validation of the Couple-Level Minority Stress Scale. [europepmc]
- Enacted individual-level stigma, anticipated relationship stigma, and negative affect among unpartnered sexual minority individuals. [europepmc]
- Parenthood and Well-Being: A Decade in Review. [europepmc]
- Anticipatory Minority Stressors among Same-sex Couples: A Relationship Timeline Approach. [europepmc]
- Masculinity and Minority Stress among Men in Same-sex Relationships. [europepmc]
- Same-Sex Couples and Cognitive Impairment: Evidence From the Health and Retirement Study. [europepmc]
- Sexual- and Gender-Minority Families: A 2010 to 2020 Decade in Review. [europepmc]
- The Gender-as-Relational Approach for Theorizing About Romantic Relationships of Sexual and Gender Minority Mid- to Later-Life Adults. [europepmc]
- Investigating differential protective effects of marriage on substance use by sexual identity status. [europepmc]
- Minority stress, distress, and suicide attempts in three cohorts of sexual minority adults: A U.S. probability sample. [europepmc]
- Children with Trans Parents: Parent-Child Relationship Quality and Psychological Well-being. [europepmc]
- The Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women Couples Study: Protocol for a Study of Stress, Hazardous Drinking, and Intimate Partner Aggression Among Sexual Minority Women and Their Partners. [europepmc]
- Identity and Relationship-Based Discrimination, and Mental Health in a Sample of Sexual Minority Male Couples. [europepmc]
- Assumptions about patients seeking PrEP: Exploring the effects of patient and sexual partner race and gender identity and the moderating role of implicit racism. [europepmc]
- Social change and relationship quality among sexual minority individuals: Does minority stress still matter? [europepmc]
- Relationship Identities Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults: An Exploratory Study. [europepmc]
- Past Experiences and Anticipated Futures in the Lives of Transgender and Nonbinary People. [europepmc]
- A mixed-methods study of relationship stigma and well-being among sexual and gender minority couples. [europepmc]
- A research agenda for understanding how social inequality is linked to brain structure and function. [europepmc]
- An Integrative Model of Alcohol-Facilitated Intimate Partner Aggression Perpetration in Sexual and Gender Diverse Couples. [europepmc]
- An intersectional approach to understanding minority stressors and relationship quality in sexual and gender minority women's same-gender interracial/interethnic intimate relationships. [europepmc]
Related