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ABSTRACT Asexual individuals often face negative attitudes and stereotypes. Consequently, they may hold negative meta‐stereotypes: beliefs about negative stereotypes that outgroup members hold about them due to their asexuality. Two preregistered studies with international samples of asexual individuals test the relationships between meta‐stereotypes, ingroup identification (with the asexual and the LGBTQ+ communities), well‐being, and self‐acceptance of sexuality (SAS) within the Rejection‐Identification Model. Study 1 ( N = 412) investigated cross‐sectional associations between variables, while Study 2 ( N = 293) examined the causal effects of meta‐stereotypes using an experimental design. Both studies found that negative meta‐stereotypes increased ingroup identification. Study 1 found that negative meta‐stereotypes were associated with lower well‐being and SAS, but indirectly with higher well‐being and SAS through increased identification with the asexual community. Study 2 found no direct effect of negative meta‐stereotypes on well‐being and SAS. However, replicating Study 1, there was an indirect positive effect on SAS and well‐being through identification with the asexual community. These results were not found for the identification with the broader LGBTQ+ community in either study. Together this suggests that SAS and well‐being relate to how asexual individuals believe they are perceived by non‐LGBTQ+ people as well as their identification with the asexual community.
Ruijter et al. (Fri,) studied this question.