Exploring the links between interpersonal trust and the reasons underlying gay and bisexual males' disclosure of their sexual orientation to their mothers

This paper examines the role that interpersonal trust plays in gay and bisexual males' accounts of the factors that led them to decide to reveal: or to withhold their sexual identities from their mothers. Fifty men completed a questionnaire about their coming out experiences in the context of their relationships with their mothers. As part of this questionnaire, they indicated whether or not they had disclosed their sexual orientation to their mothers and explained the basis for their decision in this regard. A content analysis of the explanations offered supports findings from previous research which suggest that a considerable range of motivations underlie the decision to disclose (or not to disclose). More importantly, consistent with expectations that the mother's trustworthiness would emerge as a principle concern in participants' responses, several of the classes of explanation identified in disclosers' and non-disclosers' decision accounts suggest that the move toward disclosure is guided in part by the climate of trust existing in individuals' relationships with their mothers.