Longitudinal associations between romantic relationship involvement and quality, depression, and suicidal ideation among bisexual women

Bisexual women have an increased likelihood of experiencing suicidal ideation (SI) and depressive symptoms than both heterosexual and lesbian women. Evidence suggests romantic relationship involvement may lead to worse mental health outcomes for bisexual individuals, even though it is frequently cited as a protective factor among heterosexual and lesbian/gay individuals. It is currently unknown whether romantic relationship involvement is associated with SI among bisexual women and whether other aspects of the romantic relationship (e.g., quality, partner gender) influence mental health in this population. The present study used up to eight waves of data from bisexual young women (N = 390 across waves) who participated in a longitudinal cohort study and identified as bisexual during at least two consecutive waves (range = 2-8 waves; M = 3.96, SD = 1.93). Multilevel modeling was used to assess concurrent and lagged associations between relationship involvement, quality, partner gender, and mental health. Relationship involvement was not significantly associated with depression or SI in concurrent or lagged analyses. In contrast, at the between-person level, participants who reported higher relationship support (on average) reported lower depressive symptoms, and participants who reported having a female partner more often (on average) reported lower depressive symptoms and SI in concurrent analyses. The present findings suggest that relationship quality and partner gender, but not relationship involvement, are associated with depressive symptoms and SI among bisexual women. As such, relationship quality may be a useful intervention target to improve the mental health of bisexual women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).