The Relationship Between Sexual History, Bullying Victimization, and Poor Mental Health Outcomes Among Heterosexual and Sexual Minority High School Students: A Feminist Perspective

Abstract

This study uses a feminist theoretical framework to extend the literature on the relationship between sexual history, bullying victimization, and poor mental health outcomes. First, we examined whether an association between the sexual double standard and bullying victimization would apply to sexual minority youth the same way it applies to heterosexual youth. A second aim was to assess whether sexual minority boys, typically stereotyped as effeminate, would report the highest odds of bullying victimization. A third and final aim of our study was to look at the joint effect of sex and sexual intercourse on depression and suicidal ideation. Our analytic sample ( N = 9,300) was from the 2009, 2011, and 2013 Rhode Island Youth Risk Behavior Surveys. Findings demonstrated that heterosexual girls who engaged in sexual intercourse had significantly higher adjusted odds of bullying victimization than heterosexual boys who engaged in the same behavior. Similar results were not found for sexual minority adolescents, suggesting the sexual double standard may not apply to sexual minority adolescents in the same way it applies to heterosexual adolescents. Consistent with our second hypothesis, sexual minority boys reported the highest odds of being recently bullied compared with heterosexual boys. Among students who were recently bullied, sexual minority girls displayed the highest adjusted odds of recent depression and suicidal ideation. Our study demonstrated that using a feminist theoretical framework broadens our understanding of why girls and sexual minority boys are particularly vulnerable to bullying victimization and the sequel of depression and suicidal ideation.

Me and Us Versus the Others: Troubling the Bullying Phenomenon

“…Thus, the analysis of the phenomenon has focused mainly on individual factors of a psychological nature, simplifying and pathologizing the problem, and subsequently centering on the variables of the micro-system, including school, family, or peer-group variables (Espelage & De La Rúe, 2012; Higuita-Gutierrez & Cardona-Arias, 2017). However, the analysis of peer violence has ignored the influence of the macro-system so that the more social variables—specifically social rules and discourses about gender and sexuality (Carrera, DePalma, & Lameiras, 2011; Dum, Clarck, & Pearlman, 2017), ethnicity (Carrera et al, 2011; Peguero & Williams, 2011), or any other identity category that separates a student from the majority group (McGee, 2014; Thornberg, 2018)—been silenced and underestimated, compromising not only our understanding of the phenomenon, but especially the policies and educational strategies for its prevention and intervention.…”

An Intersectional Feminist Perspective on LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care: Implications for Service Providers

“…Feminist theory encourages the belief that bullying and negative peer attitudes are based on society's misogyny, which makes sense since research has validated this connection between bullying and sexual violence. These studies also suggest training and treatment groups introduced to these teenagers, which include feminist ideals and target gender bias, have been beneficial in preventing some types of sexual violence (Dunn, Clark & Pearlman, 2017).…”

“…There has never really been one definition of feminism or feminist theory since its inception. However, the most well-known form of feminist theory states that our society is based on a patriarchy that favors white, heterosexual men (Dunn, Clark & Pearlman, 2017). Among other things, the second wave of feminism encouraged women to fight the patriarchy to obtain equality in the workforce, to fight for reproductive and equal voting rights, and to seek access to affordable childcare.…”

Is Teen Risk of Having Sex With Strangers Associated With Family Environment? Family Processes, Household Structure, and Adolescent Sex With Strangers

“…Third, having sex with someone known less than 1 day predicts regret among college women (Eshbaugh & Gute, 2008), and nonromantic sex is associated with lower self-esteem among adolescents, indicating that these youth “may suffer from negative self-assessments” (Manning et al, 2005, p. 402). In particular, sexually active girls are more likely to experience shame (van de Bongardt, Reitz, & Dekovic, 2016) and bullying victimization (Dunn, Clark, & Pearlman, 2017) than sexually active boys.…”