Here’s a cheery thought: a study in Australia has come up with research showing that same-sex couples tend to have higher-quality relationships as compared to their straight counterparts.
Unfortunately, it looks like bisexuals don’t enjoy the same quality of relationships.
Same-sex couples: Breaking the myth
Examining the relationship quality of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and heterosexual people in Australia and the United Kingdom, the study debunks the erroneous myth that same-sex couples have terrible relationships.
The study’s researchers noted that “individuals in same-sex couples (particularly lesbian women) generally are more equitable in the ways in which they allocate domestic work, including childcare.”
“Unequal household burdens are associated with poor relationship outcomes, including marital conflict and divorce,” they noted.
“Our results provide robust evidence to combat deep-rooted and erroneous social perceptions of same-sex relationships being conflictual, unhappy, and dysfunctional,” said Professor Janeen Baxter, Director of the Life Course Centre (LCC) of the University of Queensland.
Baxter added: “In fact, relationship quality in same-sex couples was as high as in heterosexual couples in the United Kingdom, and higher in Australia.”
“Relative to heterosexual relationships, same-sex relationships tend to have more equitable domestic work arrangements, less defined gender roles, and a greater sense of social connectedness to a community,” she pointed out.
Professor Baxter explained that their study will help address Australia’s concerns about how recognizing same-sex couples could affect the nuclear family and the well-being of children.
Same-sex couples vs bisexuals in relationships
The same study revealed that bisexuals don’t enjoy the same level of quality of their relationships as gays and lesbians, or even straight people.
The researchers said this could be bisexuals can’t be categorized into either heterosexual mainstream or the gay and lesbian community.
Because of this, they suffer from poorer social networks as well as lower levels of social support.
“Our findings highlight the need to give further attention to bisexual individuals as a distinct group because their outcomes are comparatively poor,” Baxter said.
Baxter worked together with Dr. Francisco Perales as co-authors of the study, which assessed 25,348 individuals.
“This study provides timely evidence to combat erroneous stereotypes, demonstrating that these are loving, happy and functional couples,” said Perales.
Given that bisexuals experience more anxiety as compared to those in our community, and how bisexual women suffer more from depression, we’re sure this news isn’t really helping our bisexual brethren who are in relationships.