TY - JOUR
T1 - Initial examination of social compensation and honing frameworks for sexual minority social life and well-being
AU - Robbins, Megan L.
AU - Karan, Alexander
AU - Randall, Ashley K.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by a University of California, Riverside Regents Faculty Development Fellowship.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - The present study used an ecologically-valid approach to address the lack of understanding of similarities and differences in social network size and social interaction quality, and links to affect, among same- and different-gender couples. People in couples who self-identified as a woman with a woman (n = 48), man with a man (n = 40), woman with a man (n = 33), and man with a woman (n = 33) completed a single measure of social network size, and momentary assessments of social interaction quality and affect throughout their days over two weekends. Women reported lower interaction quality, less positive, and more negative affect (actor effects); similar results were also found for those who were partnered with a woman (partner effects). However, results showed an interaction of actor and partner gender, such that people in different-gender couples experienced lower interaction quality, less positive, and more negative affect than same-gender couples. Overall, results provide preliminary evidence of a honing framework, where people in same-gender couples hone their social networks down to high-quality interaction partners, more than people in different-gender couples, and experience similar links between social interactions and affect compared to people in different-gender couples.
AB - The present study used an ecologically-valid approach to address the lack of understanding of similarities and differences in social network size and social interaction quality, and links to affect, among same- and different-gender couples. People in couples who self-identified as a woman with a woman (n = 48), man with a man (n = 40), woman with a man (n = 33), and man with a woman (n = 33) completed a single measure of social network size, and momentary assessments of social interaction quality and affect throughout their days over two weekends. Women reported lower interaction quality, less positive, and more negative affect (actor effects); similar results were also found for those who were partnered with a woman (partner effects). However, results showed an interaction of actor and partner gender, such that people in different-gender couples experienced lower interaction quality, less positive, and more negative affect than same-gender couples. Overall, results provide preliminary evidence of a honing framework, where people in same-gender couples hone their social networks down to high-quality interaction partners, more than people in different-gender couples, and experience similar links between social interactions and affect compared to people in different-gender couples.
KW - Ambulatory assessment
KW - Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA)
KW - LGBT
KW - romantic relationships
KW - sexual minority
KW - social network
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091758289&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85091758289&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0265407520961840
DO - 10.1177/0265407520961840
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85091758289
SN - 0265-4075
VL - 38
SP - 301
EP - 321
JO - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
JF - Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
IS - 1
ER -