Minority stress and health: Implications for lesbian,gay, bisexual,transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) young people

Historically, the pathologization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) orientations shaped research and professional practice, while the impact of stigma was not considered. Within a minority stress conceptualization however, stigma-related prejudice and discrimination experienced by LGBTQ people constitute chronically stressful events that can lead to negative health outcomes. Minority stress has been linked to psychological distress among gay men and lesbians and may contribute to elevated rates of distress frequently observed among LGBTQ youth. This study explored the impact of minority stress on psychological distress among LGBTQ youth in Ireland. Measures assessing three components of minority stress (sexual identity distress, stigma consciousness, and heterosexist experiences) were administered online to LGBTQ youth aged 16–24 years (N = 301). Each minority stressor had a significant independent association with distress. Stepwise regression analyses identified the linear combination of minority stressors as significantly predictive of distress [F(3,201) = 30.80, p ≤ 0.001]. Results suggest that the oppressive social environment created through sexual/transgender identity-related stigma negatively impacts on the well-being of LGBTQ youth. These findings have implications for health professionals and policy makers interested in the concerns of LGBTQ youth experiencing difficulties related to minority status and will facilitate the development and tailoring of interventions aimed at reaching those most at risk.     

Lesbian,gay and bisexual development: theory,research and social issues

Over the last 20 years there has been a marked increase in the number of published journal articles and books in the field of lesbian and gay psychology and psychotherapy. Much of this work has focused upon the negative effect of living as a lesbian, gay or bisexual adult in a heterosexual world. Despite our increased awareness concerning the problems lesbians, gay men and bisexuals face in society, little is understood about the process of development from the realization of sexual orientation through to identity formation and self-actualization. This article draws together various strands of research on lesbian, gay and bisexual development and addresses some of the theoretical and conceptual issues which surround this area of psychology. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intergroup relations in action: Questions asked about lesbian,gay and bisexual issues in diversity training

This paper focuses on the questions which heterosexual trainees ask about lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) experience within diversity training about LGB issues. Drawing on a data corpus of 162 questions asked by trainees in 13 tape‐recorded training sessions, questions were coded into six categories: (1) general ‘understanding’ questions; (2) questions about the trainer's life, experience and practices; (3) professional practice questions; (4) questions about lesbian and gay related legislation, policies and procedures; (5) questions about specific people and projects and (6) questions about the meanings, derivations and correct use of terms and symbols. ‘Real’ questions are compared with the decontexualized questions (and answers to them) that are provided in training manuals and it is demonstrated that these questions differ markedly from how questions actually get asked and how they actually get answered. Recommendations are provided for improving training and the argument made for turning towards analyses of the real world in action, especially when considering intergroup relations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lesbian,gay, and bisexual youth in community settings: Personal challenges and mental health problems

Studied 194 lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth aged 21 and younger who attended programs in 14 community centers to determine the personal challenges they face due to their sexual orientation and their responses to these stresses. First awareness of sexual orientation typically occurred at age 10, but disclosure to another person did not occur until about age 16. There was much variability in sexual behavior, and many youths reported both same-sex and opposite-sex sexual experiences. Although most had told at least one family member about their sexual orientation, there remained much concern about family reactions. Suicide attempts were acknowledged by 42% of the sample. Attempters significantly differed from nonattempters on several milestones of sexual orientation development, social aspects of sexual orientation, parents' knowledge of sexual orientation, and mental health problems. The following organizations participated in this project and are thanked for their assistance: Affirmations (Detroit), the Atlanta Gay Center, Baltimore Gay and Lesbian Community Center, Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth, Gay Alternative Youth (Pittsburgh), the Gay and Lesbian Youth Association of Dallas, Gay Youth Alliance — San Diego, the Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center of Los Angeles, Horizons Community Services (Chicago), the Indianapolis Youth Group, the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center of Cleveland, Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center (San Francisco), Outright (Denver), and Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (Washington, DC). The following individuals associated with these groups are gratefully thanked for their help: Danny Barutta, Adriene Corbin, Tom Eversole, Chris Gonzalez, Bill Gripp, Rory Lopez, Phil Rector, Jamie Schield, Cheryl Schwartz, Jan Stephenson, Sterling Stowell, Amy Vitro, and Aubrey Wertheim. Gene Thomas is thanked for helping with data collection, as are Michael LaFlam, Patrick McNamara, and Mark Shiner, who processed the surveys. We also thank Rainer Silbereisen for his comments. This project was supported by funds from the Center for the Study of Child and Adolescent Development of the College of Health and Human Development at Pennsylvania State University.     

Addressing disparities: The impact of a lesbian,gay, bisexual,and transgender graduate counselling course

Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals experience serious mental health disparities and treatment inequities. Counsellor education has been identified as both a contributing factor to these problems as well as an ameliorating mechanism to address these inequalities. Aim: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the impact of an LGBT‐affirmative counselling course. Method: A total of 23 students enrolled in a graduate LGBT counselling course were administered the Sexual Orientation Counselor Competency Scale (SOCCS, Bidell, 2005) and the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Affirmative Counseling Self‐Efficacy Inventory (LGB‐CSI, Dillon & Worthington, 2003) pre‐ and post‐course. In addition, a comparison group of 23 matched counselling students was obtained from an existing data source in order to make further assessments of the course's effectiveness. Those in the comparison group were not enrolled in the LGBT course, but were administered the SOCCS at analogous time intervals. Results: After completing the LGBT course, enrolled students demonstrated significant improvements regarding their sexual orientation counsellor competency and self‐efficacy. In addition, these students showed significant gains in SOCCS scores versus those in the comparison group. Implications: Results from this study show the positive effect a full‐credit LGBT psychotherapy course can have on graduate counselling students' sexual orientation counsellor competency and self‐efficacy. The findings also indicate that such a course can significantly impact counselling skills, a facet of LGBT cultural competency found to be the most attenuated. Findings are discussed in conjunction with LGBT‐affirmative counsellor training and clinical practice.     

Personality,spirituality, suicide,and self-injury proneness among lesbian,gay, and bisexual adults

The present study sought to clarify gaps in current knowledge integrating personality, spirituality, and risk for suicide/self-harm among sample of 336 lesbian, gay, and bisexual community members. It was hypothesised that Neuroticism would positively predict, and Extraversion and Agreeableness would negatively predict, measures of suicide and self-injury proneness. Additionally, it was predicted that spirituality, defined as Spiritual Life Integration (SLI) and Social Justice Commitment, would interact with personality traits to attenuate risk for suicide and self-injury. Results supported the role of Neuroticism, and identified an unexpected predictor of Conscientiousness, at the main effect level. Moderation patterns were observed such that Agreeableness and Extraversion interacted with SLI to attenuate risk, such that high levels of each trait and high levels of spirituality were protective against suicide and self-injury proneness. Theoretical and practical implications with emphasis on counselling intervention implementation and future research are discussed.     

Oppression and discrimination among lesbian,gay, bisexual,and Transgendered people and communities: a challenge for community psychology

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people continue to experience various forms of oppression and discrimination in North America and throughout the world, despite the social, legal, and political advances that have been launched in an attempt to grant LGBT people basic human rights. Even though LGBT people and communities have been actively engaged in community organizing and social action efforts since the early twentieth century, research on LGBT issues has been, for the most part, conspicuously absent within the very field of psychology that is explicitly focused on community research and action–Community Psychology. The psychological and social impact of oppression, rejection, discrimination, harassment, and violence on LGBT people is reviewed, and recent advances in the areas of LGBT health, public policy, and research are detailed. Recent advances within the field of Community Psychology with regard to LGBT research and action are highlighted, and a call to action is offered to integrate the knowledge and skills within LGBT communities with Community Psychology's models of intervention, prevention, and social change in order to build better theory and intervention for LGBT people and communities.     

Sexuality and Religious Commitment Revisited: Exploring the Religious Commitments of Sexual Minorities, 1991–2014

Research on the religious commitments of sexual minorities has burgeoned over the last two decades, yet most studies come from small convenience samples of people actively engaged in religious groups. This study provides an empirical examination of the religiosity of people who report having had same‐sex relations in the last five years using respondents from the General Social Survey (1991–2014) and provides a comparison to respondents from 2008 to 2014 who report their sexual identification as bisexual, gay, or lesbian. All comparisons are made by gender, and compared with male and female heterosexuals. The relationship between behavioral sexuality and religiosity is examined across time periods, distinguishing respondents from 1991 to 2002 from respondents interviewed in 2004–2014. Religious factors examined include religious identification, religious participation, prayer frequency, beliefs about the Bible, beliefs about God, and belief in an afterlife. Multivariate models are estimated to examine whether sociodemographic factors contribute to differences across the gender/sexuality groups.     

How to address the caveat of avoiding direct contact: Reducing prejudice towards gay and lesbian people in five Balkan countries

ABSTRACT

In the Balkans, contact with gays and lesbians is typically hostile or avoided. Drawing from probability samples of young people from five Balkan countries (N = 1046), we examined whether it is possible to transfer the effects of contact with other marginalized outgroups (largest ethnic minority in every country, Roma, the extremely poor and physically disabled) to acceptance of gays and lesbians (secondary outgroup), and whether this relationship could be explained by attitude generalization and increased intergroup trust. Path analyses supported the secondary transfer effect: it confirmed that, while controlling for direct contact, contact with other marginalized groups was related to more acceptance of a secondary group; this relationship was mediated by trust. This was found across all primary groups in the combined samples, while the effect varied for different groups in country samples. The results add to the value of intergroup contact as a mean of prejudice-reduction.     

Long‐Term Outcomes of Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual,and Transgender Recalled School Victimization

The authors examined relationships among recalled and current bullying, shame‐focused coping, and fear of negative evaluation in an adult lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) sample. Findings indicated that attack self, withdrawal, and attack other shame‐focused coping fully mediated the relationship between recalled bullying and fear of negative evaluation. Fear of negative evaluation and current bullying victimization were predicted by shame‐focused coping. Findings suggested the importance of addressing histories of school‐related bullying and shame‐focused coping when counseling LGBT persons.     

African American Counselors‐in‐Training,the Black Church,and Lesbian‐, Gay‐, and Bisexual‐Affirmative Counseling: Considerations for Counselor Education Programs

This article examines the challenges that may be particular to African American counseling students who identify as Christian in learning to provide competent and affirming counseling to lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. The role and importance of the Black Church, race survival consciousness, and cultural constructions of sexuality and mental health may present unique barriers for these students in affirming LGB clients. Recommendations for counselor education programs are discussed.     

The Coming-Out Process and Its Adaptational and Health-Related Associations Among Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Youths: Stipulation and Exploration of a Model

A model is proposed and explored that links the coming-out process to the psychological functioning (i.e., self-esteem and distress) and sexual behaviors of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youths recruited from gay-focused community-based and college organizations in New York City. The coming-out process is multidimensional, consisting, as defined here, of involvement in gay/lesbian activities, attitudes toward homosexuality, comfort with homosexuality, self-disclosure of sexual identity to others, and sexual identity. The coming-out dimensions were related to self-esteem, distress, and unprotected sexual behaviors. In addition, the relations between the coming-out dimensions and unprotected sexual behaviors were explained by psychological functioning. In particular, limited involvement in gay/lesbian activities was associated with more unprotected sex. Negative attitudes toward homosexuality were related directly to more unprotected sex, and they were related indirectly to more unprotected sex by means of increasing emotional distress. These and other findings have implications for designing preventive interventions to increase the youths' psychological functioning and reduce their unprotected sexual behaviors.     

Age and Cultural Gender Equality as Moderators of the Gender Difference in the Importance of Religion and Spirituality: Comparing the United Kingdom,France, and Germany

A range of research studies has found that women report greater importance of religion and spirituality in their lives than men do. This study extends the literature on this phenomenon, and the theories that aim to explain it, by looking at whether gender differences in the three European countries (the United Kingdom, France, and Germany) differ by adult age group (young adults 18–39, midlifers 40–59, and older adults 60+), and by the cultural gender equality of the countries in question. Participants provided data on the importance of religiosity and spirituality to their life. Significant gender differences were found within all three countries, for each of the three age groups. In line with predictions based on Global Gender Gap Report 2016, Germany showed the smallest difference, followed by France and the United Kingdom. Gender differences were smaller in the young adult samples than for midlife adults or older adults.     

Same-sex parent families in Italy: Validation of the Coparenting Scale-Revised for lesbian mothers and gay fathers

Even though Italy is still struggling to establish equal rights and access to assisted reproduction techniques for sexual minorities, an increasing number of lesbian women and gay men are now becoming parents. There are only a few studies that have evaluated coparenting in same-sex couples. However, these addressed adoptive couples and not the lesbian and gay parent families through donor insemination or surrogacy, respectively. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Coparenting Scale-Revised and its relationship with dyadic adjustment, discipline management, and internalized sexual stigma in Italian same-sex-planned families. The factor structure showed a satisfactory internal consistency and criterion validity with correlates of coparenting behaviours. While Family Integrity factor was confirmed, Disparagement and Reprimand dimensions collapsed into Conflict factor. Non-genetic parents showed lower levels of conflict than genetic parents. Most importantly, coparenting emerged as a significant function not shaped by gender, but influenced by parental status and internalized sexual stigma.     

Religious homophobia: The experiences of a sample of lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Ireland

This paper presents the findings of an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of the experiences of religious homophobia among a sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Ireland. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 LGBT-identified people in Dublin (age range early 20s to 50s; six male and four female), of whom five identified as religious and five as atheist. IPA generated the overarching theme of Religious Homophobia which was experienced and responded to differently by religious and atheist participants. Findings were that, while participants lived in an increasingly pluralistic Irish society, the negative dividend of religious homophobia created intrapsychic tension for participants and led some to abandon religion altogether. Nevertheless the experiences of participants point to the changing nature of Irish society which is characterised by increased diversity, openness and respect for minority rights including LGBT rights.     

Factor analysis of the heterosexist harassment,rejection, and discrimination scale in lesbian,gay, bisexual,transgender, and queer people of colour

The factor structure of the Heterosexist Harassment, Rejection, and Discrimination Scale (HHRDS) was examined in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people of colour. Two hundred participants completed a survey with the HHRDS and several mental health scales. A confirmatory factor analysis suggested the original HHRDS structure fit the data poorly. Exploratory factor analyses found a different 2-factor structure, consisting of harassment/rejection and family discrimination. Convergent validity analyses demonstrated that family discrimination had the largest association with depression and anxiety, indicating that family discrimination may be particularly salient among LGBTQ people of colour. This study supports the use of the HHRDS in racially/ethnically diverse samples, but with a slightly different factor structure. Examining discriminatory experiences from family members is an important direction for future research in LGBTQ people of colour.     

You still feel different: the experience and meaning of women's self‐injury in the context of a lesbian or bisexual identity

This article reports an intensive qualitative study of the subjective experience and meaning of self‐injury for 16 women who identified as lesbian or bisexual and who had deliberately self‐injured on repeated occasions. In individual interviews, the women talked about their experiences of self‐injury and the role it played in their lives as lesbian or bisexual women. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to elicit themes arising within their accounts. These highlighted a number of ways in which social and contextual factors contributed to the development of self‐injury. Although many of these factors seemed applicable to any woman who self‐injures, there were some aspects that were specific to the experience of lesbian and bisexual women. In addition, the women's accounts raised a number of important issues about the way in which mental health services respond to lesbian and bisexual women who self‐injure. It is argued that self‐injury can be understood as a coping response that arises within a social context characterized by abuse, invalidation, and the experience of being regarded as different or in some way unacceptable. These factors are especially salient in the lives of women, and they emerge particularly strongly as part of the experience of women who are developing a lesbian or bisexual identity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.