Affective Antecedents and Consequences of Revealing and Concealing a Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual Identity

This study examined affect as it relates to the identity management (IM) experiences of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) workers. We integrate IM theories and evidence (Chaudoir & Fisher, 2010; Pachankis, 2007) within the framework of affective events theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996) to predict relationships among mood, identity management, and emotion at work. LGB participants rated aspects of positive and negative affect each work morning and immediately following IM situations at work over 3 weeks, making it possible to examine within-person changes and next-day consequences of IM. Our results provided little support for the notion that LGB workers' IM behaviors are driven by affect. However, there do appear to be affective consequences of IM behaviors. After concealment, participants experienced diminished positive affect and increased negative affect; in contrast, revealing was associated with increased positive affect and diminished negative affect. Additionally, these immediate affective consequences of identity management continued into the following day for some facets of affect. We examine these findings as they relate to the identity management and affect literatures, thereby building new insights into their intersections. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).