Premium
Fusion or Internalized Homophobia? A Pilot Study of Bowen's Differentiation of Self Hypothesis With Lesbian Couples
Author(s) -
SPENCER BERNADETTE,
BROWN JAC
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
family process
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.011
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1545-5300
pISSN - 0014-7370
DOI - 10.1111/j.1545-5300.2007.00208.x
Subject(s) - lesbian , psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , psychoanalysis
Bowen, using the concept of differentiation, hypothesized that the way individuals learn to deal with their relationships with families of origin will influence the way they manage their relationships with their partners. This study surveyed a group of 53 lesbian couples on differentiation of self, internalized homophobia, and relationship satisfaction. We found that lesbian couples were not significantly different in their level of differentiation than random pairs. We also found that there was a positive relationship between differentiation of self and relationship satisfaction and that when considered together, internalized homophobia had the more significant connection to relationship satisfaction than did differentiation of self. Implications for therapy are drawn from these findings.