Social support mediates the effect of gender role nonconformity on sexual dysfunction

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have demonstrated that gender role nonconformity (GRNC) is associated with negative psychological consequences, but that discrimination, bullying, and homophobic stigmatization are mechanisms through which GRNC impacts psychological health. In this secondary analysis, we test the hypothesis that people reporting higher levels of GRNC will experience increased sexual dysfunction, and that social support will act as an indirect mechanism. METHODS: We analyzed data from 781 participants from the Nathan Kline Institute Rockland Sample, performed quantile regression analyses to assess the relationships among social support, GRNC, and sexual dysfunction (while controlling for age, sex, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status) and used a mediation analysis to explore social support as a mediator of the effect of GRNC on sexual dysfunction. RESULTS: GRNC significantly positively predicted sexual dysfunction and social support significantly predicted sexual dysfunction in the opposite direction. The indirect effect of GRNC via social support was also significant, suggesting that social support is a salient mechanism through which GRNC affects sexual dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that GRNC significantly predicts sexual dysfunction, and that social support significantly mediates this relationship. Although GRNC is associated with negative psychological and sexual consequences, the impacts appear to be mediated by the structure and quality of social relationships.