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Do Bisexuals Thrive in the Corridor?: Liminal Identity, Communication, and Well-Being
Abstract
In this dissertation I aim to test direct and moderating associations between bisexual liminal identity, social identity complexity, micro-aggressions and micro-affirmations, and well-being. In Chapter One, I offer my theoretical definition of and position bisexuality as a liminal identity. Next in this chapter, I (a) hypothesize a direct association between bisexual liminal identity and well-being, (b) posit competing hypotheses related to social identity complexity as a positive cognitive appraisal moderator (i.e., social cure perspective) and negative cognitive appraisal moderator (i.e., uncertainty identity perspective) of the main effect, and finally (c) posit hypotheses related to individual- and group-aimed micro-aggressions and micro-affirmations as communicative appraisal moderators of the main effect. In Chapter Two, I outline the methods, detailing recruitment efforts, participant inclusion criteria and demographics, the quantitative survey design procedures, and measures – including the General Measure of Liminal Identity – Bisexual scale developed for this study. In Chapter Three, I describe and report the results of the statistical analyses testing the proposed hypotheses related to main and moderating effects. Finally, in Chapter Four I discuss theoretical implications of the results, focusing on potential implications for bisexual liminal identity theorizing and directions for future refinement of the GMLI-B scale, and conclude with limitations and directions for future research.
Subject Area
Communication|Cognitive psychology|Gender studies|Social psychology
Recommended Citation
Kassler, Katie, "Do Bisexuals Thrive in the Corridor?: Liminal Identity, Communication, and Well-Being" (2024). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI31293687.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI31293687