Who Are the Happit? Straights and Gays, but Not Bisexuals | Psychology Today

are gay couples happier

As wh straight upl, marriage is lked to good mental health for gays and lbians.

Contents:

ARE GAY MEN HAPPIER THAN STRAIGHT MEN?

Hot on the heels of the same-sex marriage bill, new rearch shows that gay and lbian upl tend to have higher-qualy relatnships than their heterosexual unterparts. * are gay couples happier *

Men and women 378 gay, lbian, and heterosexual marriag, " acrdg to the study. The first four e om rearch by Gottman & Levenson's (2003), 12-year study on gay and lbian relatnships:. Equaly and power-sharg are valu more mon to gay and lbian upl than straight upl.

For stance, half of gay men report havg sexual experienc outsi of their relatnship, wh their partner knowg (Hoff, et al., 2010). Children om gay and lbian parents tend to be slightly happier and healthier than children om straight parents (Crouch, et al., 2014). Correlat of gay and lbian upl relatnship satisfactn and relatnship dissolutn.

Journal of Homosexualy, 45, 22-43, doi:10. A good illtratn of the facts is the recent spate of news stori about how gay men are happier than heterosexual men. "A new study has found that gay and bisexual men are ls likely to be prsed and have psychologil problems than heterosexual men.

GAY RELATNSHIPS N BE HAPPIER THAN HETERO, STUDY FDS

* are gay couples happier *

"Of urse gays are ls strsed. Alas, none of this good news for gays and spankg fetishists is really backed up by the data the origal study, which, while trigug, is hardly evince that is beg out and gay that mak men happier (let alone women). For one, the study reced participants Montreal, a large and fairly progrsive cy where beg openly gay do not e wh high social or enomic sts.

WHO ARE THE HAPPIT? STRAIGHTS AND GAYS, BUT NOT BISEXUALS

A new study fds that gay upl are more ntent wh their relatnships than their heterosexual unterparts. * are gay couples happier *

While gay men the study seemed to experience ls strs and prsn than straight men, there are a variety of alternative explanatns that might expla this fact (like whether they worked out or not; whether they had children or not; e level and stabily). In other words, you might be out at work and at home, but if your grandparents don't know you're gay, then you're marked as closeted.

Once upon a time there was a gay man and he me out of the closet and was happy and lived happily everyafter. It seems like more than jt bad reportg to tell gay men and women that happs is up to them, not the world at large, and happs will rive om disclosure when that very disclosure n be dangero.

STUDY: GAY RELATNSHIPS MAKE YOU HAPPIER

Rearchers have spoken and they nfirm the fact that gay relatnships n be happier than hetero uplg. This may e as a surprise * are gay couples happier *

All the study really told is that beg gay, male, young, ted and whe a large, libreral cy like Montreal n be advantageo.

Hot on the heels of the same-sex marriage bill, new rearch shows that gay and lbian upl tend to have higher-qualy relatnships than their heterosexual unterparts. Profsor Janeen Baxter, Director of the Life Course Centre (LCC) led by The Universy of Queensland, said the qualy of timate relatnships of gay and lbian people was high, if not higher than the qualy of heterosexual upl’ relatnships. Together they examed the relatnship qualy of bisexual, gay, lbian, and heterosexual people Atralia and the Uned Kgdom.

They believe suggt heterosexual upl uld fact learn somethg om gay and lbian upl. “Further knowledge of the strategi ployed by gay and lbian upl to mata their relatnship qualy spe dividual and stutnal discrimatn uld help to velop new unsellg tools, ” Baxter says. The thors suggt this uld be bee bisexual dividuals fail to f neatly to eher the heterosexual mastream or the gay and lbian muny, which turn may lead to poorer social works and lower levels of social support.

ARE GAY COUPL HAPPIER?

Gay marriag tend to be more egalarian wh upl leang on a work of iends and reportg beg happier and have ls nflict than straight upl. * are gay couples happier *

” Optns of gay/lbian; bisexual; heterosexual or straight; or don’t know.

THE KEY TO A HAPPY RELATNSHIP? BE GAY. OR CHILDLS. OR MAKE TEA

” [only 4 optns, neglect inti such as mostly straight, pansexual, mostly gay, asexual, kk, qutng]. Only 2% intified as gay/lbian and only 2% intified as bisexual.

GAY MARRIAGE: SAME, BUT DIFFERENT

Counter to mon sense, over a third of those wh lifelong same-sex partners and nearly half of those wh lifelong both-sex partners intified not as gay or bisexual but as straight. If you ed an inty measure, gays, lbians, and bisexuals were ls happy than straights. If, however, you ed same-sex behavr, gays and lbians were as happy as straights, but not so for dividuals wh both-sex partners--they remaed relatively unhappy.

Bee the vast majory of dividuals who intify as bisexual are women (equently the 60% to 80% range), any study that b gays/lbians wh bisexuals and fds negative mental or physil health problems likely distorts our unrstandg of sexual mori and th tells ltle about male bisexuals, gay mal, and lbians. Th, if the goal of rearch is to document the problematic nature of beg gay, lbian, or bisexual, asssg sexual inty is the way to go. Bottom le: Be reful what you read, hear, and believe about gays, lbians, and bisexuals.

Shortly after news that the Supreme Court will hear s ncerng same-sex marriage this term, a new study fds that legal regnn of relatnships may improve the mental health of gays and fdgs e om the first large-sle study of how marriage fluenc the mental health of gay, lbian and bisexual people.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR MARRIAGE GAYER

Realizg that gay relatnships are still stigmatized and that married gay upl don't get many of the feral benefs straight upl expect, Universy of California, Los Angel, public health rearcher Richard Wight wanted to know if marriage would be beneficial for same-sex upl' psychologil functng, too.

That means California is home to legally married same-sex upl, upl domtic partnerships, and sgle gays, lbians and bisexual rearchers ed the 2009 California Health Interview Survey, a biannual state phone survey foced on psychologil health and maral stat, to look for differenc between those groups, as well as straight people. Their total sample me to more than 36, 700 people, cludg more than 1, 000 gay, lbian or bisexual Californians.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* ARE GAY COUPLES HAPPIER

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