Sexual fluidity in the city: Sexual orientation experiences, lesbian community norms, & mental health

Research has established that female sexuality is marked by variable levels of fluidity, with women, on average, experiencing a greater degree of flexibility in their experiences of sexuality than men. Studies have yet to investigate how fluid sexual orientation experiences may relate to mental health among lesbian or bisexual women, or the role that lesbian community normative pressures may play in these relationships. This research assessed perceptions of injunctive and descriptive lesbian community norms around sexual orientation experiences (exclusive sexual behavior, physical attraction, emotional attachment, gender of past partners, and biological origin) and violations of these norms in relation to depression, anxiety, and stress among a national convenience sample of 505 young sexual minority women (YSMW). Among the lesbian-identified YSMW, regression models weighting violations of norms by respective injunctive and descriptive perceptions both predicted negative affect. Identification with the lesbian community moderated associations in both models, with relationships enhanced among women identifying more strongly with the lesbian community. Among the non-lesbian YSMW identifying as bisexual, fluid, and queer, only the interaction between lesbian community identification and violations of norms weighted by injunctive perceptions significantly predicted negative affect, with women identifying more strongly with the lesbian community and violating norms they perceived to have injunctive strength in the lesbian community experiencing greater negative affect. Findings suggest that normative pressures around sexual orientation experiences in lesbian community social environments may be related to negative mental health experiences of fluid YSMW with both lesbian and non-lesbian sexual identity labels. Implications of findings for mental health professionals working with YSMW, mental health programming in lesbian community settings, and researchers studying sexual minority stress are discussed.