Internalized Homophobia and its Relationship with Depression and Suicidality in Adult Gay Women: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This is a proposal to conduct a study that explores the relationship between internalized homophobia, depression, and suicidality among gay women ages 18 and older. The Lesbian Internalized Homophobia Scale (LIHS), the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), and the Self-Report Scale for Suicidal Ideation (SSI-SR) would be used to measure the major variables of interest. Multiple regression analysis would be used to examine the intercorrelation between these variables (i.e. internalized homophobia, depression, and suicidality) and age, income, education level, “outness”, ethnicity, substance abuse, anxiety, and childhood abuse. This study will be limited by the same factors that limit the majority of studies on homosexuality (e.g. convenience sampling).