Wellness in adult gay males: Examining the impact of internalized homophobia, self-disclosure, and self-disclosure to parents

Adult gay males face significant social stigma, internalize negative societal messages related to their sexual orientation, and experience difficulties related to disclosing their sexual orientation to others, particularly to parents. Although the effects of these challenges in terms of pathology have been established, the relationship among internalized homophobia, self-disclosure, self-disclosure to parents, and wellness has not been examined. The results of a study of these variables among 217 gay males are presented and discussed.