Butan, Maria Gabriela (2025) Perceptions and Dating Intentions of Single Lesbians and Bisexual Women. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Lesbians and bisexual women are often targets of societal prejudice – especially bisexual women. This may lead them to engage in negative meta-stereotyping, which involves expecting that others will stereotype them negatively based on their sexual identity. In this research, we investigated the relationship between negative meta-stereotyping and dating intentions, as well as what roles self-esteem and internalized sexual stigma (ISS) play in it. An online cross-sectional correlational study was conducted, with 196 lesbians and 175 bisexual women as participants. As hypothesized, we found that bisexual women expect to be stereotyped negatively more than lesbians and that they experience higher levels of ISS. At the same time, there were no differences between the two groups in terms of self-esteem and dating intentions. However, we did find support for our mediation hypotheses: compared to lesbians, bisexual women have more negative meta-stereotypes, which predicts lower self esteem and higher ISS respectively, and hence, decreased dating intentions. These findings highlight the importance of considering psychological mechanisms like negative meta stereotyping, self-esteem, and ISS when investigating LGBTQ+ individuals’ dating intentions and dating lives in general. Theoretical and practical implications regarding the socially disadvantaged bisexual identity, strategies to improve queer women’s dating lives, and the need to differentiate between queer sexual identities are discussed. Keywords: negative meta-stereotypes, dating intentions, self-esteem, internalized sexual stigma, lesbian women, bisexual women
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Gordijn, E.H. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Applied Social Psychology (ASP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Jul 2025 07:16 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Jul 2025 07:16 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5496 |
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