Date of Award

5-2024

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

School Psychology

First Advisor

Sharon G. Horne

Second Advisor

Gonzalo Bacigalupe

Third Advisor

Hung Chiao, Nedim Yel

Abstract

Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019, however, the impact of marriage equality on Taiwanese LGBTQ+ individuals’ mental health remains understudied. There were three major purposes of this study: (1) It explored what demographic background related to the value of the importance of marriage for LGBTQ+ individuals in relationships; (2) Using the framework of minority stress, this study investigated whether marital status was related to mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, and overall mental health) among Taiwanese LGBTQ+ individuals in relationships. In addition, this study explored the mediating role of minority stress (heterosexist experiences, internalized homophobia, and outness) and relationship satisfaction. (3) This study explored whether having access to full marital rights related to Taiwanese LGBTQ+ individuals in binational relationships’ experience of minority stress, mental health outcomes, and their relationship satisfaction. There were 397 participants included in this cross-sectional survey study comparing data from surveys of Taiwanese LGBTQ+ adults in relationships for analyses. Overall, the results indicated a high level of perceived importance of marriage. Greater age, higher income level, and religiosity were found to be significant predictors for endorsement of marriage importance. Marital status was positively related to mental health with those Taiwanese LGBTQ+ individuals in relationships who were also married reporting lower depression, anxiety, and more positive overall mental health. Greater outness and relationship satisfaction were found to have partial mediation effects for the relationships between marital status and mental health outcomes, suggesting that being married may relate to being more out and more relationally satisfied, which in turn, are both associated with more positive mental health. As for Taiwanese LGBTQ+ individuals in binational relationships, the results showed no sequential mediation relationship between access to marital rights and mental health outcomes through minority stress factors and relationship satisfaction. However, the most consistent and salient finding was that access to marital rights was a significant predictor for policy-related anxiety among LGBTQ+ individuals in binational relationships who lacked rights.

Chinese Abstract

台灣在2019年成為亞洲第一個合法化同性婚姻的國家，然而，婚姻平權 (Marriage Eqaulity)對台灣性別與性少數族群 (LGBTQ+) 精神健康的影響仍未受到充分研究。因此，本研究有三個主要目的：(1) 探討社經文化背景對於台灣性別與性少數族群在婚姻重要性之影響；(2) 在少數族群壓力理論架構下，研究婚姻狀況是否與台灣性別與性少組群群個體的心理健康結果相關（包含抑鬱、焦慮和整體心理健康指數）。此外，也探討不同少數族群壓力測量（包含異性戀霸權經驗、恐同內化指數和出櫃程度）和關係滿意度的中介作用。(3) 本研究探討對於台灣跨國同性伴侶是否擁有完整婚姻權與少數族群壓力、心理健康結果和關係滿意度的經驗之關聯。 此橫向研究納入了397名參與者的問卷，比較了不同婚姻狀況和不同婚姻權的台灣性別與性少數族群成年人的經驗。 整體而言，結果顯示台灣性別與性少數族群成年人對於婚姻重要性有高度的認同。年齡較大、收入水平較高和宗教信仰程度較高的人被發現是對婚姻重要性認可的重要預測因素。婚姻狀況與心理健康結果呈正相關，已結婚的台灣性別與性少數個體報告較低的抑鬱、焦慮和更正向的整體心理健康。出櫃程度和關係滿意度對婚姻狀況與心理健康結果之間存在部分中介效應，這代表已結婚的個體可能有相對高的出櫃程度和關係滿意相關，進而有更正向的心理健康結果。 至於在台灣跨國關係中的性別與性少數個體數據，結果顯示具備婚姻權的與心理健康結果之間不存在通過少數壓力因素和關係滿意度的連續中介關係。然而，特別的數據發現是，對於缺乏婚姻權的跨國伴侶個體來說，是否具有婚姻權對於婚姻平權政策相關的焦慮感是一個重要預測因素。 本研究的結果也在臨床工作和公共政策發展有所討論跟貢獻。同時也探討了研究的限制和未來可能研究方向。

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