Emma Barbato

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Graham, Steven

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

This thesis served to explore the impact of sexuality salience, or awareness, on heterosexual, bisexual, gay, lesbian, and queer individuals’ levels of mood disturbance and physiological stress. Participants provided Time 1 (baseline) and Time 2 (post-test) responses to the abridged Profile of Mood States Questionnaire and gave Time 1 and Time 2 saliva samples. Between Time 1 and Time 2, participants engaged in a free-response style survey wherein they were encouraged to think deeply about their feelings toward their own sexual orientation and the ways through which they believe society perceives their sexual orientation. The results indicate that sexual minority participants (bisexual, gay, lesbian, and queer) tended to experience significant increases in mood disturbance between Time 1 and Time 2, while heterosexual participants did not. No significant results were observed with regard to participants’ physiological stress responses. These results indicate that sexual minorities may be subjected to high levels of mood disturbance and anxiety related to their sexual orientations, which may lead to health issues later in life.

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