Jennifer D. Rubin

Love and sex: polyamorous relationships are perceived more favourably than swinging and open relationships

Consensual non-monogamy (CNM) refers to romantic relationships in which all partners agree to engage in sexual, romantic and/or emotional relationships with others. Within the general framework of CNM, subtypes of relationships differ in the extent to which partners intend for love and emotional involvement to be a part of their multiple relationships (that is, some relationships may prioritise love over sex with multiple partners, or vice versa). The present study examined whether individuals were more likely to stigmatise relationships that: (i) focus on loving more than one person (which is characteristic of polyamory), (ii) focus on having sex without love (which is characteristic of swinging lifestyles), or (iii) involve having sex without love without a partner’s participation (which is characteristic of open relationships). In the present research, participants were assigned to read a definition of one of the three CNM relationship types (i.e. a swinging, polyamorous or open relationship) and to indicate their attitudes towards individuals who participate in those relationships. Results show that swingers were overwhelmingly perceived more negatively (e.g. less responsible) than individuals in polyamorous relationships and that people in open relationships were sometimes perceived more negatively (e.g. less moral) than people in polyamorous relationships. Overall, findings suggest that people are more uncomfortable with the idea of strictly sexual relationships (i.e. swinging relationships) than relationships involving multiple romantic/emotional attachments (i.e. polyamorous relationships).

‘Even though it's a small checkbox, it's a big deal’: stresses and strains of managing sexual identity(s) on Facebook

Facebook offers a socialisation context in which young people from ethnic, gender and sexual minorities must continually manage the potential for prejudice and discrimination in the form of homophobia and racism. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight young women, aged 16–19 years, who self-identified as queer and as women of colour. A detailed analysis of these interviews – focusing in particular on how young people described navigating expectations of rejection from family and friends – offered insight into the psychological and health consequences associated with managing sexual identity(s) while online. The ‘closet’ ultimately takes on new meaning in this virtual space: participants described trying to develop social relationships within Facebook, which demands sharing ones thoughts, behaviours and ideas, while also hiding and silencing their emerging sexuality. In this ‘virtual closet’, tempering self-presentation to offset social exclusion has become a continuous, yet personally treacherous, activity during the daily practice of using Facebook.

Condom use errors among sexually unfaithful and consensually nonmonogamous individuals.

This research involved comparisons of the condom use behaviours of people who are in monogamous relationships but who have engaged in extradyadic sex (i.e. committed infidelity) to those who are in consensually nonmonogamous (CNM) relationships. Consensual nonmonogamy is the practice of openly having multiple sexual or romantic partners simultaneously, with the full knowledge and consent of all participating partners. Participants in CNM relationships used condoms more correctly in their last instance of intercourse than those who were committing infidelity.

Adapting to Injustice Young Bisexual Women’s Interpretations of Microaggressions

In this study, we link together moments of discrimination described by young bisexual women. We do so in order to theorize about associations between negative stereotypes heard early in one’s life and later minimization of personal discrimination. Using interviews with 13 young women, we sought to understand the types of negative messages participants heard about “bi/sexuality” as well as the ways that they perceived or did not perceive themselves as having experienced discrimination related to their sexuality. We found that family members and friends often described participants’ bisexuality as “disgusting,” “difficult to understand,” or “hot,” and participants described their own experiences with discrimination as “no big deal.” We use this analysis to build on previous research concerning microaggressions, sexual stigma, and denial of discrimination to discuss how familial, social, and political environments create a set of conditions in which later injustices are imagined as normative and inevitable. Finally, we discuss the methodological dilemmas facing feminist psychologists who aim to analyze discrimination and the challenges in documenting individuals’ experiences of stigma, which may be imagined as no big deal to individuals, but are in fact unjust. It is imperative to develop strategies to recognize, document, and critically assess how injustice becomes all too normal for some and the role that feminist psychology can play in changing this. A podcast conversation with the author of this article is available on PWQs website at http://pwq.sagepub.com/site/misc/Index/Podcasts.xhtml

Graduate education in qualitative methods in U.S. psychology: current trends and recommendations for the future

ABSTRACT The visibility of qualitative research methods (QRM) in U.S. psychology has increased with the dissemination of qualitative research in journals and books, formation of professional and scientific organizations, and recognition in educational institutions. While gains have been made, the current state of doctoral training in qualitative methods remains uncertain. It is unclear what training graduate students receive in U.S. psychology programs about qualitative methodologies and how further gains can be made in expanding visibility of QRM in graduate education. In this mixed-methods study, we surveyed a sample of faculty in U.S. psychology graduate programs about the frequency of QRM course offerings, graduate training, and students’ use of QRM in their dissertation research. We also explored qualitative responses from faculty regarding their attitudes about QRM and how these attitudes might help increase or diminish the frequency of methods training available to students. We found that even within graduate programs where there was support for QRM, enduring perceptions about the value of qualitative research limit faculty and graduate students’ use of qualitative methodologies in their research. With these findings in mind, we offer several recommendations for increasing the visibility of QRM in U.S. graduate education and the discipline of psychology as a whole.

Bisexual prejudice among lesbian and gay people: Examining the roles of gender and perceived sexual orientation.

Research on dynamics within communities of sexual and gender minorities is scant, despite reports that people experience prejudice within lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) spaces. The present research examined dynamics within LGBTQ communities and used gender as a lens of understanding bisexual prejudice among lesbian women and gay men. In two online studies with lesbian and gay participants (NStudy1 = 120; NStudy2 = 165), we randomly assigned participants to reflect on lesbian and gay people’s attitudes toward bisexual women or bisexual men. In each study, we evaluated lesbian and gay people’s perceptions of identity instability, sexual irresponsibility, and interpersonal hostility. In Study 2, we proposed that beliefs about bisexual people’s attraction (to men or to women) serve as a mechanism of bisexual prejudice among lesbian and gay people. We found that people perceived bisexual women and men as being more sexually attracted to men than they are to women, which helps to explain why some lesbian women reported more negative attitudes toward bisexual women than gay men did. Moreover, we tested whether lesbian and gay people’s identification with their ingroup, as well as their experiences with dating bisexuals, exacerbated negative perceptions of bisexuals. Taken together, these studies offer implications for reducing bisexual health disparities via improving dynamics within LGBTQ communities.

Sexual satisfaction among individuals in monogamous and consensually non-monogamous relationships:

Monogamous individuals are believed to have better sex lives than those who are consensually non-monogamous (CNM). We compared the sexual satisfaction of CNM and monogamous individuals and also considered the relationship satisfaction of participants utilizing a non-targeted sample of CNM participants. We found that monogamous people reported slightly lower sexual satisfaction and lower orgasm rates than those who are CNM. Moreover, the type of CNM in which a person engages is important: swingers consistently reported higher sexual satisfaction than monogamous individuals, whereas those in open relationships had equivalent levels of satisfaction to those in monogamous relationships. Relationship satisfaction did not differ between CNM and monogamous groups. These findings do not support the perception that people in monogamous relationships have better sex than CNM individuals.

Making meaning of significant events in past relationships Implications for depression among newly single individuals

Romantic relationship dissolution is among the most stressful events that a person can experience. However, variability exists in the experience of a breakup and its impact on mental health. This study employed a mixed methods approach to understand how newly single people make meaning of significant events in their previous relationships through narrative and the resulting implications for their mental health. Participants were 146 men and women who became single during the course of a 4-wave longitudinal study of relationships and well-being. When asked to write narratives of the most significant event in their prior relationships, participants most frequently wrote about turning points, low points, and decision events. Narratives were not exclusively focused on the breakup itself. Narrative content was predictive of an adaptive resolution of significant events in prior relationships—via positive affective tone of narrative endings—which was in turn predictive of depression in the year after breaking up with a partner. Findings suggest that how people make meaning of events in prior relationships through narrative explain important individual differences in mental health in singlehood. Implications for relationship science, as well as counseling and clinical interventions, are discussed.