Exploration of the experiences of sexual and gender minority students in school psychology programs.

Chen, Yung-Chi; Panebianco, Andrea; Verkuilen, Jay

doi:10.1037/sgd0000485

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…STEM undergraduate programs and environments are typically founded upon hetero- and cis-normative standards and can be unwelcoming of other gender identities and sexualities [ 5 – 8 ]. Specifically, SGM students often deal with discrimination and exclusion due to others’ perceptions, biases, and stereotyping of their minoritized sexual and gender identities [ 5 , 9 , 10 ]. This treatment is frequently in the form of microaggressions—covert, indirect, restrained, and ambiguous demonstrations of discrimination and prejudice against minoritized groups [ 6 , 11 , 12 ], such as cis-normative language use by faculty [ 13 ], including their resistance to trans or non-binary students’ pronouns [ 14 , 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual and gender minority undergraduates’ relationships and strategies for managing fit in STEM

et al. 2022

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Undergraduates with sexual and/or gender minority (SGM) identities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, pansexual, intersexual, asexual, or additional positionalities, often face an unwelcoming STEM microclimate. The STEM microclimate includes the places students experience, such as classrooms or labs, and the people, such as peers or professors, with whom they discuss their STEM program. While previous work offers a framework of microaggressions faced by SGM people, and the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional strategies they use to react to them, little is known about the strategies SGM students use to persist in the STEM microclimate. We analyze interviews with 29 SGM STEM undergraduates to uncover how they fit in STEM, their experiences that affect fit, how social capital in the form of influential others affects fit, and the strategies used to deal with microaggressions and cultivate a supportive network. Using thematic analysis, we find that students vary in their feelings of fit, with students with gender minority identities experiencing more frequent and more severe microaggressions than students with sexual minority identities (which are often less visible). We likewise find that students with racial minority identities report compounding issues related to identity. SGM students with social capital, or a network of people to whom they can turn in order to access advice and resources, believe they fit in better than those without such capital. To support their feelings of fit, students use defenses against discrimination, including micro-defenses, wherein they change how they present their self to avoid microaggressions and/or surround themselves with accepting people. This research highlights the role of microaggressions and social capital in affecting fit as well as the micro-defenses students use to defend against discrimination. Our introduction of the concept of micro-defenses provides a way to theorize about micro-interactional dynamics and the site at which students defend against microaggressions so they feel more welcome in STEM. Implications provide insight into how SGM students can be supported in STEM as well as the institutional changes STEM departments and campuses can make in order to better support and include SGM students.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual and gender minority undergraduates’ relationships and strategies for managing fit in STEM

et al. 2022

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“…We reasoned that individuals with minoritized identities would encounter common issues navigating dating apps as other HSP graduate students. We also reasoned that students with minoritized identities would face unique challenges pertaining to their identities and intersections of those identities with other aspects of identity or location (e.g., living in a small college town as a sexual minority), consistent with work suggesting that sexual and gender minority HSP students feel less supported by their programs than heterosexual/cisgender students (Chen et al, 2021).…”

mentioning

confidence: 76%

Construction and navigation of dating app use among minoritized health service psychology graduate students.

Parent¹,

Woznicki²,

Wille³

et al. 2023

Training and Education in Professional Psychology

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Despite growing use of online dating apps, guidelines from health service psychology (HSP) programs and associations often do not address dating app use while engaging in clinical work. This qualitative study explored how 11 diverse graduate students in HSP doctorate programs navigate their own dating apps use. We used semistructured individual interviews and a consensual qualitative research methodology to identify core areas of experience among participants and major themes. Regarding app use, participants discussed the necessity of using dating apps to meet others (particularly sexual minority individuals), concerns about seeing clients on apps, and strategies for mitigating identification on dating apps by clients. Regarding program messages about dating app use, participants identified receiving general social media messages, a lack of messages about dating app use by sexual and gender minority trainees, a lack of messages implying negative attitudes, outright negative attitudes, professional repercussions, and dating app stigma. Dating apps are used in a different manner than general social media, so it is important for programs and professional organizations to provide students with guidance on ethical dating app use while doing clinical work. We outline strategies for integrating dating apps into professional social media ethics training.

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“…This is consistent with previous research (e.g., Nilsson & Schmidt, 2005) that found that individuals from marginalized groups show greater interest in social justice advocacy. The limited research on sexual orientation in school psychology suggests that graduate students may not perceive sexual marginalized individuals to be an oppressed group (McCabe & Rubinson, 2008) and that sexual marginalized graduate students perceive that academic and professional environments are less welcoming to them (Chen et al, 2023). For these reasons, sexual marginalized students may be more aware of the need for social justice and thus hold more positive attitudes about social justice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While this finding was unexpected, previous research suggests that those with privileged social identities may understand how to leverage their privilege to advance social justice goals and feel more efficacious (Beer et al, 2012). Another possibility is that sexual marginalized students may feel like they have less power to engage in social justice advocacy due to concerns about professional repercussions (e.g., loss of employment) and an unsupportive professional environment (Chen et al, 2023; McCabe & Rubinson, 2008). The significant contribution of the multicultural competence variables suggests that cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills may help graduate students become more confident in their ability to act in ways that support social justice and enhance preexisting commitments to social justice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlates of social justice values in school psychology graduate students.

Malone,

Barclift

2024

School Psychology

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School psychologists are well-positioned to serve as advocates for marginalized students to address educational inequities and challenge systemic barriers to well-being. However, if they do not personally endorse social justice values, they may be unwilling to take personal and professional risks to engage in social justice work. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which personal characteristics and multicultural competence are associated with social justice values in school psychology graduate students. A sample of 108 graduate students completed the Social Justice Scale, School Psychology Multicultural Competence Scale, and Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Participants strongly endorsed having social justice values; however, they were less likely to report being in a context supportive of social justice work. There was no difference in reported social justice values based on gender or race; however, sexual marginalized students and those with very liberal political ideology reported more positive attitudes toward social justice. Students with very liberal political ideology also reported greater intent to engage in social justice actions in the future. Additionally, there were several positive correlations between social justice values and perceived multicultural competence. Multicultural competence accounted for most of the variance in participants’ perceived ability to engage in social justice actions and being in environments supportive of social justice, while personal characteristics explained most of the variance in participants’ intent to engage in future social justice actions. Notably, political ideology was the most consistent predictor of social justice values. Findings and implications for graduate education programs are discussed.

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Exploration of the experiences of sexual and gender minority students in school psychology programs.

Cited by 7 publications

References 59 publications

Sexual and gender minority undergraduates’ relationships and strategies for managing fit in STEM

Sexual and gender minority undergraduates’ relationships and strategies for managing fit in STEM

Construction and navigation of dating app use among minoritized health service psychology graduate students.

Correlates of social justice values in school psychology graduate students.

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