Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid How does sexual orientation relate to openness to experience in adulthood Kfir Ifrah a, ⁎ , Geva Shenkman b , Dov Shmotkin a a School of Psychological Sciences and the Herczeg Institute on Aging, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel b School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Personality Openness to experience Sexual orientation Gay men Bisexual men Lesbian women Self-acceptance Self-disclosure ABSTRACT The adaptive role of openness to experience is widely established. However, the role of this personality di- mension in the identity formation of different sexual minorities in adulthood has not been sufficiently addressed. Two studies examined the associations between openness to experience and sexual orientation variables. In Study 1, 136 gay men and 83 lesbian women in young adulthood (mean age 20.91, SD = 4.68) showed higher openness to experience, as compared to 219 matched heterosexuals. The gay men and lesbian women group also showed a positive association between openness to experience and self-disclosure of one's sexual orientation. In Study 2, 137 bisexual men in adulthood (mean age 35.94, SD = 13.05) showed higher openness to experience, as compared to 137 matched heterosexual men and 133 matched gay men. No difference in openness to experience was found between 368 gay men (mean age 38.54, SD = 14.43) and matched heterosexual men. Moreover, openness to experience showed a positive association with self-acceptance of one's sexual orientation among bisexual men, but not among gay men. The results suggest that openness to experience is pertinent to the sexual identity formation of sexual minorities. 1. Introduction Stigma and prejudice against gay men and lesbian women may make this population psychologically vulnerable (Meyer, 2003). Thus, a vast array of studies have shown that gay men and lesbian women are at higher risk than heterosexuals for mental health problems, including depression, and suicide ideation and attempts (Balsam, Beauchaine, Mickey, & Rothblum, 2005; Shenkman & Shmotkin, 2011). Among sexual minorities, bisexual men and women face unique social and psychological challenges such as biphobia, characterized by stigma and discrimination that bisexual individuals experience from heterosexuals as well as from gay men and lesbian women (Zivony & Lobel, 2014). It is therefore not surprising that bisexual men and women, compared to heterosexual men and women as well as to gay men and lesbian women, showed higher levels of adverse life events, lack of social support, and more anxiety, depression and suicide attempts (Jorm, Korten, Rodgers, Jacomb, & Christensen, 2002; Shilo & Savaya, 2012). Nevertheless, sexual minorities (gay men, lesbian women, bisexual men and bisexual women) use an array of coping strategies while facing their unique internal and external threats (e.g., Oswald, 2002). For example, re- solution of crises related to their sexual orientation, such as stigma, prejudice and discrimination, may provide sexual minorities a per- spective on major life crises, and a sense of crisis competence that buffers against later crises (Brown & Grossman, 2014). Furthermore, sexual minorities tend to create “families of choice” where individuals replace, or reinforce, family support with strong friendships, which may provide a broad network on which to rely later in life, in times of need (Oswald, 2002). In this context, the current research focuses on the role of openness to experience as a beneficial disposition that possibly relates to identity issues among sexual minorities. 1.1. Self-acceptance and self-disclosure Self-acceptance and self-disclosure of gay, lesbian, and bisexual or- ientation reflect basic developmental tasks in the process of sexual identity formation (Elizur & Ziv, 2001). These tasks may serve as coping strategies in accommodating to the diversity and contradictions in- herent in lives of sexual minorities. Thus, acceptance and disclosure of one's sexual orientation may relate to better mental health outcomes (Lea, Wit, & Reynolds, 2014; Meyer, 2003). While self-acceptance of one's sexual orientation is a prominent positive concomitant of well-being among sexual minorities (e.g., McParland & Camic, 2016), self-disclosure of one's sexual orientation encompasses potential assets as well as challenges to one's well-being. On the one hand, increased self-disclosure may alleviate tensions of gay men and lesbian women while encountering heterosexual circles, thus facilitating a better integration of conflicting feelings, cognitions and behaviors. On the other hand, disclosure of sexual orientation may https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.04.030 Received 26 December 2017; Received in revised form 19 April 2018; Accepted 20 April 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author at: School of Psychological Sciences and the Herczeg Institute on Aging, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. E-mail address: kfirif@gmail.com (K. Ifrah). Personality and Individual Differences 131 (2018) 164–173 0191-8869/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T