Graduate Studies

 

First Advisor

Jordan Soliz

Department

Communication Studies

Date of this Version

Spring 2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Comments

Copyright 2024, Katie Kassler. Used by permission

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.

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