Community support for sexual and gender diversity, minority stress, and mental health: A mixed-methods study of adolescents with minoritized sexual and gender identities.

Abstract

The 21st century has been a time of change in recognition of sexual and gender diversity (SGD) in the United States, but we know little about how community-level variability in support for SGD shapes the experience of youth who hold minoritized sexual or gender (MSG) identities. This study used mixed methods to examine regional variability in community climate for SGD and its relationship with minority stress and mental health for adolescents with MSG identities (e.g., asexual, bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, nonbinary). Findings revealed differences in objective indicators, self-reported perceptions, and informant narratives of community climate, but survey and narrative data revealed that adolescents experienced heightened levels of depressive symptoms and minority stress processes across communities. Adolescent informants constructed narratives that identified anxiety/depression and self-harm as primary mental health challenges across communities, linking these experiences to societal stigma and insufficient education about SGD. Sources of resilience included mental health services, in-person resources (e.g., school gender-sexuality alliances [GSAs]), online resources, and peer support. Findings reveal the endurance of cultural ideologies that reinforce stigma (e.g., heterosexism, cissexism), activate minority stress processes (e.g., internalized stigma), and contribute to negative mental health (e.g., depressive symptoms), even for adolescents in supportive community settings. Public Significance StatementDisparities in mental health exist for adolescents with minoritized sexual or gender identities, but we lack sufficient knowledge of how different types of communities might exacerbate or ameliorate minority stress processes. This mixed-methods study allowed for a deep interrogation of the experience of minority stress and mental health for adolescents, providing information on possible interventions (e.g. formal education about sexual and gender diversity) to promote health and wellbeing.

Microaggression and discrimination experiences among diverse youth with LGBTQ+ parents in the United States

“…This underscores the limitations of only employing specific questions or quantitative items. The utility of (convergent) mixed methods designs to yield similar and distinct results across quantitative and qualitative analyses has been supported in LGBTQ+ youth research (Hammack et al., 2022). We have extended this in our study, one of the first to do so among youth with LGBTQ+ parents.…”

Feelings of LGBTQ+ community belonging among diverse youth with LGBTQ+ parents in the United States.

“…In barriers to feelings of belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, geographic location also emerged as a key factor impacting belonging for youth with LGBTQ+ families, as with earlier research among LGBTQ+ people (Paceley et al, 2016) and now extending the research to their children. Participants from rural and suburban towns reported more barriers to belonging than those in cities, which has been demonstrated among LGBTQ+ youth (e.g., Hammack et al, 2022;Stone, 2018), and now among youth with LGBTQ+ parents. A lack of acceptance for and visibility of the LGBTQ+ community in their towns led to fewer LGBTQ+ events, organizations, and community involvement.…”

“…Future research could explore outcomes linked with LGBTQ+ community belongingness, including well-being and identity development among youth with LGBTQ+ parents. Mixed method approaches with qualitative and quantitative data would allow for varying perspectives on LGBTQ+ community belongingness, as found in studies of LGBTQ+ youth (Hammack et al, 2022). Continued examination of distinct developmental stages (child, adolescent, young to middle adult, etc.…”

The paradox of progress for sexual and gender diverse youth

“…In the context of current social reverberations against expanding sexual and gender diversity among young people, we acknowledge the political climate and its rhetoric, and the evidence that such rhetoric will "get under the skin" and seep into the social lives of SGD young people [36,40]. For SGD young people growing up in this historical moment, during the adolescent period of vulnerability for identity-based stigma and rejection, risks to mental and behavioral health are clear and urgenteven for those growing up in supportive community contexts [41]. That is, contemporary SGD youth are being confronted by efforts to reify Western hetero-and cis-normative beliefs regarding sexuality and gender that reinforce binaries (of maleness and femaleness, or of "gay" versus "straight").…”