Sexual orientation minority and self-esteem maintenance: A sense of social inclusion hypothesis

Abstract

Self-esteem of sexual orientation minority members is not necessarily low, contrary to what might be theoretically expected. An explanation has been offered that self-protective strategies were in use. Instead, it is argued in this paper that sense of social inclusion plays an important role, and two questionnaire studies examined the possibility. In Study 1,214 members of sexual orientation minority completed a set of questionnaires. Results showed that sense of acceptance by others had a positive relationship with self-esteem, but use of self-protective strategies did not. In Study 2,218 who were not minority members completed the same set of questionnaires. It was shown in the comparison that the relationship between self-esteem and sense of social inclusion was stronger for minority members than non-members. Sense of social inclusion thus appeared to help members of sexual orientation minority keep self-esteem high.