Perceived social support in the lives of gay, bisexual and queer Hispanic college men

Abstract

In this qualitative study, we examined the sources and nature of social support reported by 24 gay, bisexual and queer Hispanic college men at a small liberal arts college and a large university in the USA. We identified four themes of support across the interviews: Shared experiences (46%), Protector (42%), Support in the air (33%) and Gradual support (29%). Shared experiences included support from those who had previous experience with the lesbian, gay or bisexual community. Protector indicated a type of support that was psychologically, emotionally or physically protective in nature. Participants also reported receiving indirect support such as nonverbal behaviours or indirect gestures of endorsement and caring (support in the air). Participants reported that many of their network members came to support them gradually over time (gradual support). Within each theme we found support from both women and men, who provided support in gender-consistent ways. Our results highlight that despite continued prejudice and discrimination in society, sexual and racial/ethnic minority men have strongholds of support from men and women in their lives that enable them to navigate their development successfully.

Social Support Among Male Undergraduates: A Systematic Review

“…A total of 30 studies were found that adhered to the inclusion criteria set for the systematic review. Of these, 16 focused on social support and psychological outcomes (Abu-Kaf et al, 2018;Adamczyk, 2015;Bíró, Veres-Balajti, & Kósa, 2016;Ceglarek & Ward, 2016;Frison & Eggermont, 2015;Kim, Kim, & Lee, 2016;Llamas, Morgan Consoli, Hendricks, & Nguyen, 2018;Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016;Ng, Wang, & Chan, 2017;Roohafza et al, 2016;Tang & Dai, 2018;Vungkhanching, Tonsing, & Tonsing, 2016;Wang, Sun, & Wang, 2016;Wongtongkam, 2019;Yıldırım, Karaca, Cangur, Acıkgoz, & Akkus, 2017;You, Lim, & Kim, 2017); 3 focused on social support and academic achievement (Bai et al, al., 2018; Rodríguez et al, 2017); 4 focused on social support and technology use (Deechuay, Koul, Maneewan & Lerdpornkulrat, 2016;Gökçearslan, Uluyol & Şahin, 2018;Shah, Siddiqui & Ansari, 2016;; 4 focused on sources of social support (Bhochhibhoya et al, 2017;Chuah & Singh, 2016;Lee & Goldstein, 2016;Rios & Eaton, 2016); and 3 focused exclusively on gender differences in social support (Lin, 2016;Zamani-Alavijeh, Raeesi Dehkordi, & Shahry, 2017;Zhang, Zhapng, Zhang, Zhang, & Feng, 2018). All studies except one were quantitative.…”

“…Among Malaysian international undergraduate students, host nation's students emerged as a major source of social support (Chuah and Singh, 2016). Among American homosexual male undergraduate students, sources of social support included both heterosexual and homosexual men, including friends, uncles, cousins, brothers, and fathers (Rios & Eaton, 2016). Romantic partners, friends, and family were other sources of social support found among the general population of male undergraduates (Lee & Goldstein, 2016).…”

“…A similar inquiry, albeit in the context of Malaysian undergraduates, was conducted by Chuah and Singh (2016), who studied social support experienced by international students from the source of host nation's students and found that international students expected to communicate and share their joys with host students (mean 2.80), and it was found that 77% of international students felt accepted and viewed host nation's students as sources of social support. Sources of social support were examined among undergraduate sexual and racial minorities in the United States by Rios and Eaton (2016). Findings revealed that 79% of the students named both heterosexual and homosexual reported men as social support sources, including friends, uncles, cousins, brothers, and fathers.…”

“…Examples of such support include assistance, care, and respect (Lee & Goldstein, 2016). Social support may be perceived, which highlights the beliefs and perceptions that an individual might have regarding the quality and quantity of their available social support (Rios & Eaton, 2016). Researchers have described social support in terms of interpersonal interactions within one's social groups and the impressions and perceptions one might have regarding it, and noted that perception of social support is more significant than actual social support received (Bhochhibhoya, Dong, & Branscum, 2017).…”

Navigating double marginalisation: migrant Chinese sexual and gender minority young people’s views on mental health challenges and supports

“…Recent studies in the USA and UK indicate that double minority youth can develop coping strategies for resiliency in the face of double marginalisation (Li et al 2017; Rios and Eaton 2016;Jaspal and Williamson 2017). These strategies include skills in identity management, whereby double minority youth learn to selectively prioritise aspects of their identity that are less stigmatised and seen as appropriate to the given social context (Wang, Bih and Brennan 2009;Szymanski and Sung 2013;Jaspal and a The term sexual and gender minority refers to all gender diverse people who are not cisgender (i.e.…”