Relationship Satisfaction Among Plurisexual Young Adults: Understanding the Unique Role of Identity Abuse

Understanding the link between intimate partner violence and relationship satisfaction is important because of the prospective links between this type of satisfaction and mental and physical health. The need to better understand experiences of intimate violence among plurisexual people (those who experience sexual and/or romantic attraction to more than one gender) is highlighted by the fact that they disproportionately experience higher levels of intimate partner violence and report poorer romantic relationship quality than both heterosexual and lesbian/gay people (i.e., monosexual people, or people who are only attracted to one sex/ gender). Identity abuse, a form of psychological abuse based in stigmatizing someone’s sexual identity, can be particularly detrimental for relationship quality among plurisexual people, who experience stigma from monosexual people, although this may vary across gender identity. In the current study, we examined how experiences of identity abuse were associated with relationship satisfaction among a sample of 538 partnered plurisexual young adults, focusing on differences by gender identity. Identity abuse was associated with poorer relationship satisfaction, even after accounting for other forms of intimate partner violence. Results suggest that identity abuse can be particularly harmful for relationship quality; however, this association held for cisgender women and transgender/nonbinary adults but not cisgender men. The findings of the current study suggest the importance of examining how stigma can occur within plurisexual people’s romantic relationships.