142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Correlates of Behavioral Disengagement in Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Communities: Avoidant Attachment, Forgiveness, and Optimism

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 10:45 AM - 11:00 AM

Sarah Clubb , Center for Psychosocial Helath, University of North Texas, Denton, TX
Alexandra Wike, M.A., M.S. , Psychology, University of North Texas Attn: Alexandra Wike, Denton, TX
Stacy Bonds, B.A. , Department of Psychology Attn: Stacy Bonds, University of North Texas, Denton, TX
Mark Vosvick, MBA, M.Ed, PhD , Department of Psychology, University of North Texas, Denton, TX
A.J. Guerrero , Department of Psychology Attn: Sarah Clubb, University of North Texas, Denton, TX
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)

Correlates of Behavioral Disengagement in Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Communities: Avoidant Attachment, Forgiveness, and Optimism

Sarah Clubb, A.J. Guerrero, Stacy Bonds, B.A. and Mark Vosvick, Ph.D.  

Attachment theory posits lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals with high attachment avoidance hold negative working models of others.  These negative working models contribute to obsessive desires for self-reliance, reluctance to form close interpersonal relationships and distrust (Wang 2010). Thompson et al. (2005) defined forgiveness as the conversion of a perceived transgression such that responses to the transgressor, transgression and events following the transgression are transformed from negative to neutral or positive.  In a study of sexual minority women, maladaptive coping, behavioral disengagement and self-blame were especially harmful for mental/physical health (Lehavot, 2012). Optimism is linked to higher levels of engagement coping and lower levels of avoidance,(disengagement) coping (Carver 2010).

With the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (Lazarus & Cohen, 1977) as a theoretical framework, we hypothesize that attachment, forgiveness and optimism account for a significant proportion of the variance in behavioral disengagement.  Our study collected self-report data from a convenience sample of 132 self-identified LGB participants in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.  Controlling for ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender and education in a hierarchical regression, our model accounted for 24% of the variance in behavioral disengagement (R2=.24, F(8,123)=4.918,p < .001).  Forgiveness (β=-.017,t=-2.18,p <.05) significantly predicted behavioral disengagement while optimism (β=-.044,t=-1.93,p=.056) and attachment style (β=.248,t=1.73,p=.087) trended towards significance. Findings suggest that clinicians should encourage forgiveness and optimism in order to decrease behavioral disengagement.

Learning Areas:

Diversity and culture
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify a maladaptive form of coping strategy in Lesbian,Gay and Bisexual (LGB). Define what is associated with behavioral disengagement in LGB communities. Discuss how attachment style, forgiveness, and optimism correlates to behavioral disengagement in LGB communities.

Keyword(s): Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT), Mental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a junior at the University of North Texas majoring in psychology. I am a research assistant for the Center of Psychosocial Health Research whose focus is on HIV/AIDS and LGBT populations.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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