Introduction

Coming out as gay can be a psychologically challenging event, and recall of a negative coming out experience can initiate subsequent identity changes in gay men. We tested whether baseline levels of identity resilience and internalized homonegativity moderate these effects.

Methods

A between-participant experimental study, with an ethnically diverse sample of 333 gay men in the United Kingdom (UK), examined levels of contemporaneous identity threat of reflecting upon recollections of either a coming out experience that had a negative or a stabilizing effect on self-schema. Data were collected in 2020 and analyzed using multiple regression and path analysis.

Results

Path analysis showed that a model predicting level of identity threat after recall of a negative coming out experience fitted the data well. Identity resilience was negatively correlated with internalized homonegativity and distress during memory recall. Both distress and homonegativity correlated positively with identity threat. The relationship between recalling a negative coming out experience and distress was mediated by the perceived typicality of the recalled experience.

Conclusions

Through its effects on distress and internalized homonegativity, identity resilience reduces the threatening effect of recollecting a negative coming out experience upon contemporary identity.

Policy Implications

Offering gay men awareness of the social and psychological routes to raising identity resilience may be beneficial in reducing internalized homonegativity and the ongoing effects of remembered negative coming out experiences.

中文翻译：

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英国男同性恋者的出柜、困境和身份威胁

介绍

作为同性恋出柜可能是一个心理上具有挑战性的事件，回忆负面的出柜经历可能会引发男同性恋者随后的身份变化。我们测试了身份弹性和内化同质性的基线水平是否会缓和这些影响。

方法

一项参与者之间的实验研究，对联合王国（UK）的 333 名男同性恋者进行了种族多样化的样本，检查了同时期身份威胁的程度，即反思对自我有负面或稳定影响的出柜经历的回忆-模式。数据于 2020 年收集并使用多元回归和路径分析进行分析。

结果

路径分析表明，在回忆负面的出柜经历后，预测身份威胁程度的模型与数据拟合得很好。身份弹性与记忆回忆期间内化的同质性和痛苦呈负相关。痛苦和同质性都与身份威胁呈正相关。回忆负面的出柜经历与痛苦之间的关系是由所回忆的经历的感知典型性介导的。

结论

通过对痛苦和内化同质性的影响，身份弹性降低了回忆负面出柜经历对当代身份的威胁影响。

政策影响

让男同性恋者了解提高身份弹性的社会和心理途径可能有助于减少内化的同性和记忆负面出柜经历的持续影响。