Establishing the Temporal Relationship Between Religious Commitment, Sexual Identity Struggles, and Religious Struggles Among Sexual Minorities

Conclusions about the temporal relationship between religiousness and both religious and sexual identity struggles are frequently made in the absence of longitudinal data. The present study examines the temporal relationship between religious identification, sexual identity struggles, and religious struggles. Participants were 132 Latter-day Saint sexual minorities who provided data at two timepoints, 2 years apart. We employed two cross-lagged panel models, one focusing on religious struggles and religious commitment and the other focusing on sexual identity struggles and religious commitment, to understand the temporal relationships between these variables. Cross-lagged panel models suggested that interpersonal religious struggles and sexual identity uncertainty at Time 1 were negatively related to religious commitment at Time 2. Similarly, religious commitment at Time 1 was related to decreased sexual identity affirmation and increased religious doubt at Time 2. Although there is some degree of reciprocity to the relationship between religious/sexual identity struggles and religious commitment, certain struggles (interpersonal religious struggles, identity uncertainty) predicted later decreases in religious commitment, and religious commitment predicted an increase in certain types of struggles (religious doubt, lack of sexual identity affirmation).