Psychology observed within every romantic relationship study: Testing equality of parameters across diverse gender and sexual identities
Year: 2024
Type: dissertation
Abstract: How do we know whether psychological science generalizes across groups?Systematic evaluations are key for establishing the validity of psychological constructs in under-investigated populations.Sexual and gender minority (SGM) people are underrepresented in wellness-framed psychological research.Arguments for their exclusion rely on the recruitment challenges and differences in outcomes and experiences (Junkins, Dugan, et al., 2024).I used an online, monthly longitudinal study measuring personality, social relationships, and mental health to conduct two studies across people with sexual and gender diverse (SGD) identities.I recruited the sample mainly through paid advertisements on Instagram.In study 1, I compared means, variances, and correlations across 34 psychosocial variables between categories of SGM, gender identity, sexual orientation, relationship status, and monogamy (N = 1,743).Consistently, I find largely similarities across gender and sexual orientation categories.These results support a general expectation that similarities are more common than differences in normative psychological processes, although clear differences in means and variances exist for specific experiences and outcomes.In study 2, I used data from the first three waves (N=1,777; 31% retention), 73% of respondents identified as SGM.I examined longitudinal growth parameters, rank-order stability, and cross-lagged correlations.The findings showed remarkably similar associations and rankorder stability.These exploratory results can inform longitudinal research to be better equipped to disentangle processes that support resilience in the face of extant negative influences, address health disparities, and identify associations that are more universal in the studied contexts lending support for diversifying psychological research across SGM identities.Altogether, this work examines prevalences, variations, and associations among basic psychological domains and iii further emphasizes the necessity of rigorous work to establish the generalizability of past findings to populations historically underrepresented in psychological science.support.For better or worse, PIG-ie shaped a lot of my academic opinions.I fear it has made me quite annoying, but I am grateful.Thank you to Jaime Derringer for being a great supervisor.You allowed me to pursue my interests with no pushback, including my queer interests.I deepened my understanding a lot while in grad school because of the conversations I opted into.You helped give me a varied background and really just taught from a rigorous science perspective.I appreciated this a lot.You also created a space where open discussions of racism and harms within science were not ignored or shied away from while we did our work.All in all, you were the mentor I needed.To the EPIC lab, I was around for two completely different lab experiences.To those who were the first generation, I was able to learn a lot from you in my first years and I hope I was not too annoying asking my questions and giving feedback from a novice perspective.I think of those as the Behavior Genetics days.It was a great bonding experience attending the BG workshop and coding hundreds of twin studies together.To the new generation, I leave you without a captain.All I can say is "folks what are we doing?" v To the Dugans, thank you for taking in the best little street cat ever and giving me my Minerva.She is the most perfect, best baby.To my Quality friends and to my family, you matter lots.Thank you for your support, listening, and not getting too bored when I shared about school.In the vein of entertainment, I must thank Taskmaster for always being everything I needed and wanted in terms of light entertainment television.
Author: Junkins, Eleanor J.
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7220751124