Abstract
Across the lifespan, most sexual minority individuals experience the closet—a typically prolonged period in which no significant others know their sexual identity. This paper positions the closet as distinct from stigma concealment given its typical duration in years and absolute removal from sources of support for an often-central identity typically during a developmentally sensitive period. The Developmental Model of the Closet proposed here delineates the vicarious learning that takes place before sexual orientation awareness to shape one’s eventual experience of the closet; the stressors that take place after one has become aware of their sexual orientation but has not yet disclosed it, which often takes place during adolescence; and potential lifespan-persistent mental health effects of the closet, as moderated by the structural, interpersonal, cultural, and temporal context of disclosure. The paper outlines the ways in which the model both draws upon and is distinct from earlier models of sexual minority identity formation and proposes several testable hypotheses and future research directions, including tests of multilevel interventions.
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Notes
Table 1 summarizes hypotheses suggested by the model to guide future research.
References
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Kirsty Clark, Mark Hatzenbuehler, Danya Keene, Eric Layland, Anthony Maiolatesi, and Katie Wang for helpful feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript. We would also like to thank Benjamin Eisenstadt, Benjamin Fetzner, and Jared Shelby for technical assistance with manuscript preparation.
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Preparation of the manuscript was funded in part by the David R. Kessler, MD ’55 Fund for LGBTQ Mental Health Research at Yale. Skyler D. Jackson was also supported by a career development award from the National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH122316-01A1). The content contained herein is the authors’ own and does not necessarily represent the viewpoint of the funders.
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Pachankis, J.E., Jackson, S.D. A Developmental Model of the Sexual Minority Closet: Structural Sensitization, Psychological Adaptations, and Post-closet Growth. Arch Sex Behav 52, 1869–1895 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02381-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02381-w