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ViewAttendees 4

Symposia

LGBTQ+

Understanding the unmet mental health needs of bisexual, pansexual, and queer (bi+) youth and adults

4 - (SYM 107) The Roles of Romantic Relationship Involvement and Quality in Depression and Suicidal Ideation Among Bisexual Young Women

Saturday, November 16, 2024
4:30 PM – 6:00 PM EST
Location: Franklin 8, Level 4, Downtown Marriott
Abstract Body
Background. Bisexual women report higher levels of depression and suicidal ideation (SI) than heterosexual and lesbian women (Ross et al., 2018; Salway et al., 2019); a difference that may be due to unique relationally-oriented stressors (Feinstein & Dyar, 2017). Prior research suggests that involvement in a romantic relationship is associated with higher depressive symptoms  for bisexual individuals (Whitton et al. 2018), despite serving as a protective factor for heterosexual and lesbian women. It is not known whether relationship involvement is associated with SI, or whether specific aspects of relationship, such as quality and partner gender, influence depression and SI among bisexual women. Method. We used eight waves of data from a subset of bisexual young women (N = 641 across waves; N = 182-316 per wave) from the Pittsburgh Girls Study, an ongoing longitudinal community-based study. Multilevel modeling was used to test associations between relationship involvement and quality (support and conflict), partner gender, and depression and SI among bisexual women. Results. Relationship involvement and partner gender were not significantly associated with depression or SI. At the between-person level, participants who reported higher relationship support on average reported lower depressive symptoms (t=-2.11, p=.04), and participants who reported higher relationship conflict on average reported higher depressive symptoms (t=2.33, p=.02). At the within-person level, fixed effects were not significant, suggesting that relationship quality was not associated with depression or SI within the same wave. However, random effects were significant, suggesting unexplained variability in these associations. Conclusion. In contrast to prior literature, the present findings suggest that relationship quality, and not involvement, is concurrently associated with depressive symptoms among bisexual women. Results from this longitudinal study raise questions about the extent to which relationship quality is associated with mental health at a given point in time. Nevertheless, findings provide preliminary support for relationship quality as an intervention target to improve the mental health of bisexual women.