Legal Marriage, Unequal Recognition, and Mental Health Among Same‐Sex Couples

• Author: Allen J. LeBlanc,David M. Frost,Kayla Bowen
• Date: 01 April 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12460
• Published date: 01 April 2018

A J. LB San Francisco State University

D M. F University College London∗

K B University of California Hastings College of Law∗∗

Legal Marriage, Unequal Recognition, and Mental

Health Among Same-Sex Couples

The authors examined whether the percep-

tion of unequal relationship recognition - a

novel couple-level minority stressor - has neg-

ative consequences for mental health among

same-sex couples. Data were analyzed from a

dyadic study of 100 same-sex couples (200 indi-

viduals) in the United States. Being in a legal

marriage was associated with lower perceived

unequal recognition and better mental health;

being in a registered domestic partnership or

civil union—but not also legally married—was

associated with greater perceived unequal

recognition and worse mental health. Actor

partner interdependence models tested associa-

tions between legal relationship status, unequal

relationship recognition, and mental health

(nonspecic psychological distress, depressive

symptomatology, and problematic drinking),

net controls (age, gender, race and ethnicity,

education, and income). Unequal recognition

San Francisco State University,Health Equity Institute,

1600 Holloway Avenue,HSS 359, San Francisco, CA

94132 (aleblanc@sfsu.edu).

∗Department of Social Science, University College

London, 27-28 WoburnSquare, London WCIH 0AA,

United Kingdom.

∗∗ University of California Hastings College of Law,200

McAllister Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.

KeyWords: alcohol abuse; dyadic/couple data; gay, lesbian,

bisexual, transgender; mental health; stress, coping, and/or

resiliency.

was consistently associated with worse mental

health, independent of legal relationship status.

Legal changes affecting relationship recog-

nition should not be seen as simple remedies

for addressing the mental health effects of

institutionalized discrimination.

Political and legal debates concerning the

legal recognition of same-sex relationships—

marriage in particular—have been

long-standing, and they will certainly endure,

despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 land-

mark ruling that made same-sex marriage

legal in all 50 states (Obergefell v. Hodges,

2015). Consequently, there is now a signicant

amount of research literature concerning the

public health relevance of the degree to which

same-sex relationships are legally recognized.

In contrast, the perception of fairness or

respect for one’s primary intimate relationship

from society at large, regardless of its legal

status (e.g., as a legal marriage), has received

less attention in existing sexual minority health

research. Indeed, such perception reects peo-

ples’ experiences of both eventful and chronic

stressors associated with being in a stigmatized

relationship form, including, for example, ongo-

ing or occasional fears of discrimination and

actual acts of discrimination that are uniquely

experienced by individuals in same-sex rela-

tionships and jointly by same-sex couples (Frost

et al., 2017; LeBlanc, Frost, & Wight, 2015).

Journal of Marriage and Family 80 (April 2018): 397–408 397

DOI:10.1111/jomf.12460