Table 1.
Determinants of Disclosure (N=10)
| Determinant | Participant Endorsements | Participant Recommendations | Participants who both endorsed and recommended | Quotation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devaluation of Societal Acceptance | 7 | – | – | “I just live life, you know, honestly I really just do not care girl. I really do not. I am 21 years old, I am living my life for me, and at the end of the day… nobody can love me better than I can love myself.” –Participant 10 |
| Stress of Hiding | 3 (8*) | – | – | “I was like, it’s time. It’s time to tell them. I can’t, I can’t keep hiding secrets from my blood, my family.”—Participant 4 |
| Desire for Authenticity | 3 | 3 | 1 | “I was just tired of saying like no, I’m not gay, like denying that part of myself”—Participant 6 |
| Perceives Sufficient Social Support | 2 | 3 | 2 | “That safety net, like if it’s just a group of friends or the school that they go to, or someone in the family that already accepts them that they can go to”—Participant 6 |
| Sense of Readiness | 6 | 4 | 2 | “Baby you come out when you’re ready to come out. Don’t let somebody push you to come out.” – Participant 4 |
| Comfort with Identity | 3 | 2 | – | I was comfortable with myself and, it took me awhile to get to that point”—Participant 8 |
| Perceives Personal Safety | 2 | 2 | 1 | “Some things other people should think about….is, their safety. Because you can’t come out to any and everyone” –Participant 7 |
| Trustworthiness of other Individual | 5 | 7 | 5 | “Talking to the person that they feel the most comfortable with and like that they already know that like they won’t judge them or anything like that”—Participant 6 |
| Perceives the identity is obvious or known to others | 4 | 1 | 1 | “You’re just gonna wait five years, and then be like you’re gay and everyone’s like, yeah you know, why didn’t you tell us five years ago when we all knew already? So that’s, if everyone knows already sort of thing, just tell them.”—Participant 1 |
| Others directly asking | 4 | 1 | 1 | “I don’t mention it. If something comes up along the lines of, of my sexuality. Then, I mean ok. I’ll talk to you if you want to talk about it. If you don’t want to talk about it, fine.”—Participant 3 |
*
Number of participants who endorsed feeling stress before coming out, but who did not cite this stress as a direct determinant of their disclosure