ISSN: 2222-6990
Open access
Background: Disclosing sexual orientation by homosexual individuals often accompanies discrimination that reduces their psychological well-being. Malaysian gay males have poor optimism because homosexuality is not widely recognized in Malaysia and is prohibited under legislation.
Purpose: This research aims to explore the Malaysian gay males’ self-efficacy and their state of optimism in coming out.
Methods: Due to the legal and social sanctions that exist in Malaysia, this study benefits from the qualitative research method. The concepts of transcendental phenomenology were chosen as the study’s theoretical foundation. A total of 22 Malaysian gay males who identify as homosexual males and have come out were recruited based on the inclusion criteria with purposive and snowball sampling techniques for a semi-structured in-depth interview.
Results: Findings show that Malaysian gay males’ self-efficacy in coming out is derived from normative social influence. The advocacy characteristics among them, in reality, serve as a center for effective altruism. Besides, the psychological resilience development of gay males influences their optimistic thinking about coming out. Although Malaysian gay males face discrimination from a toxic society, they remain optimistic and employ effective coping mechanisms.
Conclusion: With these research findings, intervention programs are developable for gay males who have a broken relationship with their parents due to their sexuality. There could be a revision of Malaysian law if the influencers or politicians acknowledge it above the well-executed protection by the non-government organizations (NGOs) to ascertain the rights of gay individuals.
Ab Rahman, A., Ab Ghani, N. F. A., Zakaria, M. A., & Yeap, M. J. M. F. (2019). Program pemulihan lesbian, gay, biseksual dan transgender (LGBT): Bahagian pemulihan Riqab, Majlis Agama Islam Selangor (MAIS) [Rehabilitation program for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT): Riqab’s rehabilitation section, Majlis Agama Islam Selangor (MAIS)]. Perdana: International Journal of Academic Research, 6(2), 26–34.
Aksoy, C. G., Carpenter, C. S., Frank, J., & Huffman, M. L. (2019). Gay glass ceilings: Sexual orientation and workplace authority in the UK. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 159, 167–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2019.01.013
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Carter, N., Bryant-Lukosius, D., DiCenso, A., Blythe, J., & Neville, A. J. (2014). The use of triangulation in qualitative research. Oncology Nursing Forum, 41(5), 545–547. https://doi.org/10.1188/14.onf.545-547
Cheah, W. H., & Singaravelu, H. (2017). The coming-out process of gay and lesbian individuals from Islamic Malaysia: Communication strategies and motivations. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 46(5), 401–423.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2017.1362460
Chrisler, A. J. (2017). Understanding parent reactions to coming out as lesbian, gay, or bisexual: A theoretical framework. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 9(2), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12194
Christiansen, J. (2019). The repetition of the coming out process in daily life [Master’s thesis, Texas State University]. Texas Digital Library.
https://digital.library.txstate.edu/handle/10877/8006
Dawson, E. L., Mendoza, M. C. B., Gaul, Z., Jeffries IV, W. L., Sutton, M. Y., & Wilson, P. A. (2019). Resilience, condom use self-efficacy, internalized homophobia, and condomless anal sex among black men who have sex with men, New York City. PLOS ONE, 14(4), Article e0215455. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215455
Dinwoodie, R., Greenhill, B., & Cookson, A. (2016). ‘Them two things are what collide together’: Understanding the sexual identity experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people labelled with intellectual disability. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 33(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/jar.12252
Eisenberg, M. E., Gower, A. L., Rider, G. N., McMorris, B. J., & Coleman, E. (2019). At the intersection of sexual orientation and gender identity: Variations in emotional distress and bullying experience in a large population-based sample of U.S. adolescents. Journal of LGBT Youth, 16(3), 235–254.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2019.1567435
Ferlatte, O., Oliffe, J. L., Salway, T., & Knight, R. (2019). Stigma in the bereavement experiences of gay men who have lost a partner to suicide. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 21(11), 1273–1289. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2018.1556344
Gabb, J., & Allen, K. R. (2020). Qualitative research on LGBTQ-parent families. In A. Goldberg & K. Allen (Eds.), LGBTQ-parent families (pp. 471–489). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35610-1_28
Gany, M. Y. D., & Subhi, N. (2018). Religious and sexual identity conflict among same-sex attracted Muslim men: A conceptual differences of life experience between western and Muslim majority countries. Jurnal Psikologi Malaysia, 32(4), 133–149. http://spaj.ukm.my/ppppm/jpm/article/view/430
Hart, T. A., Noor, S. W., Vernon, J. R. G., Kidwai, A., Roberts, K., Myers, T., & Calzavara, L. (2017). Childhood maltreatment, bullying victimization, and psychological distress among gay and bisexual men. The Journal of Sex Research, 55(4-5), 604–616. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2017.1401972
Haxhe, S., Cerezo, A., Bergfeld, J., & Walloch, J. C. (2017). Siblings and the coming-out process: A comparative case study. Journal of Homosexuality, 65(4), 407–426. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2017.1321349
Husserl, E. (2012). Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203120330
Maksut, J. L., Eaton, L. A., Driver, R., Knowles, C. M., & Watson, R. J. (2020). Factors associated with awareness and use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among Black men who have sex with men with a recent STI diagnosis. Behavioral Medicine, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2019.1692776
Messina, R., & D’Amore, S. (2018). Adoption by lesbians and gay men in Europe: Challenges and barriers on the journey to adoption. Adoption Quarterly, 21(2), 59–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926755.2018.1427641
Miller, W. L. Jr. (2019). Experiences of stigma and spirituality of older black men living with HIV. Journal of Social Service Research, 46(3), 427–438.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2019.1582451
Muhammed, A. A., & Amuda, Y. J. (2018). LGBT: An evaluation of Shariah provisions and the laws of Malaysia and Nigeria. Global Journal Al-Thaqafah (GJAT), 8(1), 15–29.
Newcomb, M. E., Feinstein, B. A., Matson, M., Macapagal, K., & Mustanski, B. (2018). “I have no idea what’s going on out there”: Parents’ perspectives on promoting sexual health in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adolescents. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 15(2), 111–122. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-018-0326-0
Quinn, K., Bowleg, L., & Dickson-Gomez, J. (2019). “The fear of being Black plus the fear of being gay”: The effects of intersectional stigma on PrEP use among young Black gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. Social Science & Medicine, 232, 86–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.04.042
Rodriguez, J. A. (2019). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer media: Key narratives, future directions. Sociology Compass, 13(4), Article e12675.
https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12675
Roe, S. (2017). “Family support would have been like amazing”: LGBTQ youth experiences with parental and family support. The Family Journal, 25(1), 55–62. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480716679651
Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the life orientation test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(6), 1063–1078. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.1063
Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized self-efficacy scale. In J. Weinman, S. Wright, & M. Johnston (Eds.), Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs (pp. 35–37). NFER-Nelson.
Shahabi, Z., & Rassi, F. (2015). Husserl’s phenomenology and two terms of noema and noesis. International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, 53, 29–34. https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ILSHS.53.29
Shenkman, G., Siboni, O., Tasker, F., & Costa, P. A. (2020). Pathways to fatherhood: Psychological well-being among Israeli gay fathers through surrogacy, gay fathers through previous heterosexual relationships, and heterosexual fathers. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00091
Singaravelu, H., & Cheah, W. H. (2020). Being gay and lesbian in Malaysia. In N. Nakamura & C. H. Logie (Eds.), LGBTQ mental health: International perspectives and experiences (pp. 121–135). American Psychological Association.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0000159-009
Starks, T. J., Pawson, M., Stephenson, R., Sullivan, P., & Parsons, J. T. (2017). Dyadic qualitative analysis of condom use scripts among emerging adult gay male couples. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 44(3), 269–280.
https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623x.2017.1359713
Vijay, A., Earnshaw, V. A., Tee, Y. C., Pillai, V., White Hughto, J. M., Clark, K., Kamarulzaman, A., Altice, F. L., & Wickersham, J. A. (2018). Factors associated with medical doctors’ intentions to discriminate against transgender patients in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. LGBT Health, 5(1), 61–68. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2017.0092
Wen, J., Yeh, T.-P., Xie, H., Yu, X., Tang, J., & Chen, Y. (2020). Resilience, self-esteem, self-efficacy, social support, depression and ART adherence among people living with HIV in Sichuan, China. AIDS Care, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540121.2020.1828800
Zack, E., & Ben-Ari, A. (2018). “Men are for sex and women are for marriage”: On the duality in the lives of Jewish religious gay men married to women. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 15(4), 395–413. https://doi.org/10.1080/1550428x.2018.1506374
Zhooriyati, S. M., & Despois, D. Y. (2022). Spillover-crossover effects of work-life conflict among married academicians in private university. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 30(1), 139–157. https://doi.org/10.47836/pjssh.30.1.08
Zhooriyati, S. M., & Intan, H. M. H. (2015). Hubungan interpersonal golongan ‘pengkid’ di Malaysia [Interpersonal relationships of “pengkid” in Malaysia]. Jurnal Pembangunan Sosial, 18, 97–116. https://doi.org/10.32890/jps.18.2015.11524
In-Text Citation: (Gin et al., 2022)
To Cite this Article: Gin, L. L., Syasyila, K., & Zhooriyati, S. M. (2022). Self-Efficacy and Optimism: The Experience of Coming Out as Malaysian Gay Males. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences. 12(5), 1516 – 1531.
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
Published by Human Resource Management Academic Research Society (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non0-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode