“Sexual Orientations, Like Relationships, Are Messy”: How LGBTQ +‐Related Stressors Contribute to College Students' Relationship Dissolution

Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or other minoritized sexual and gender identities (LGBTQ+) are at greater risk of experiencing stressors due to their diverse sexual and gender identities. These stressors extend to LGBTQ+ individuals' romantic relationships and can result in relationship dissolution. To inform strategies for relationship maintenance specific to LGBTQ+ identity‐related stressors, it is important to examine how individuals' LGBTQ+ identities impact their romantic relationships. In the current paper, we used a mixed methods design to examine open‐ended responses from 138 LGBTQ+ college students ( M age = 19.8) describing how their LGBTQ+ identities contributed to the dissolution of a prior romantic relationship. We also examined potential differences in theme prevalence of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) compared to cisgender students. A coding reliability thematic analysis indicated five themes: sexual orientation/gender identity (SOGI) identity exploration, SOGI identity disclosure, negative biases/experiences, societal issues, and no contributions. TGNC students were more likely to provide responses aligning with the themes of SOGI identity exploration and SOGI identity disclosure as reasons for romantic relationship dissolution than cisgender students. Our results underscore the importance of understanding minority stressors and their role in relationship dissolution for LGBTQ+ college students.