LGBTQ Youth’s Views on Gay-Straight Allianc: Buildg Communy, Providg Gateways, and Reprentg Safety and Support - PMC

Contents:

• GAY-STRAIGHT/GENRS & SEXUALI ALLIANC
• GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC, INCLIVE POLICY, AND SCHOOL CLIMATE: LGBTQ YOUTHS' EXPERIENC OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND BULLYG
• GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC, INCLIVE POLICY, AND SCHOOL CLIMATE: LGBTQ YOUTHS’ EXPERIENC OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND BULLYG
• LGBTQ YOUTH’S VIEWS ON GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC: BUILDG COMMUNY, PROVIDG GATEWAYS, AND REPRENTG SAFETY AND SUPPORT
• GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC: A MECHANISM OF HEALTH RISK RCTN AMONG LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUTNG ADOLCENTS
• CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOLS WH AND WHOUT GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC

GAY-STRAIGHT/GENRS & SEXUALI ALLIANC

Gay-Straight Allianc or Genrs and Sexuali Allianc have been associated wh improvements school safety, a key ponent of school nnectedns, for all stunts. Rearch specifilly lks the prence of Gay-Straight Allianc or Genrs and Sexuali Allianc (GSAs) to greater feelgs of school nnectedns among Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Qutng (LGBTQ) stunts.

Gay-Straight allianc are associated wh lower levels of school-based victimizatn of LGBTQ+ youth: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Contextualizg gay-straight allianc: stunt, advisor, and stctural factors related to posive youth velopment among members. Rcg risk for illic dg e and prcriptn dg mise: high school gay-straight allianc and lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr youth.

GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC, INCLIVE POLICY, AND SCHOOL CLIMATE: LGBTQ YOUTHS' EXPERIENC OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND BULLYG

Gay-Straight Allianc (GSA) and school polici foced on support for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer/qutng youth may rce bias-based bullyg and enhance social supports schools. Gay-Straight Allianc are Associated wh Lower Levels of School-Based Victimizatn of LGBTQ+ Youth: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Contextual Influence of School-Level Genr Role Attus and Sexual Prejudice on Allyship, Bullyg, and Internalized Homonegativy.

12487PMCID: PMC8063225NIHMSID: NIHMS1691425AbstractGay-Straight Allianc (GSA) and school polici foced on support for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer/qutng youth may rce bias-based bullyg and enhance social supports schools. Lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer/qutng (LGBTQ) youth often navigate more hostile school climat than their heterosexual, cisgenr peers.

GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC, INCLIVE POLICY, AND SCHOOL CLIMATE: LGBTQ YOUTHS’ EXPERIENC OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND BULLYG

School ntext be even more important when we nsir the health and well-beg of LGBTQ youth, as they are more likely to experience school-based harassment, victimizatn, and bullyg than their cisgenr and heterosexual peers (Day, Perez-Bmer, & Rsell, 2018; Toomey & Rsell, 2016) programs such as Gay-Straight Allianc (GSAs; also known as Genr and Sexualy Allianc) and school polici foced on support for LGBTQ stunts (LGBTQ-foced polici) have also been intified as effective means for improvg school climat, pecially for LGBTQ youth (Chir-Teran & Hugh, 2009; Fetner & Elaos, 2015; Goonow et al., 2006; Heck, Flentje, & Cochran, 2013; Kosciw, Greytak, Giga, Villenas, & Danischewski, 2016; Marx & Kettrey, 2016; McGuire, Anrson, Toomey, & Rsell, 2010). Prev studi of sexual and genr mory youth school ntexts have often bed sampl of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr youth; this is also among the first studi on measur of school climate related to social support and bullyg to clu genr inty pennt of sexual inty.

Regnizg this, the review below variatns of the acronym LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer/qutng) to accurately scribe the sample characteristics of prr Bullyg SchoolsAll forms of bullyg are ncerng, yet youth who experience bias-based bullyg based on their perceived or actual sexual or genr inty have poorer mental health, greater substance e, and higher tancy pared to youth who experience general forms of bullyg (Birkett, Espelage, & Koenig, 2009; Bontempo & D’Augelli, 2002; Rivers & D’Augelli, 2001; Rsell et al., 2012). In one natnal survey of LGBTQ youth, 67% reported equently hearg homophobic ments at school, 58% felt unsafe bee of their sexual orientatn, and 43% felt unsafe bee of their genr exprsn (Kosciw et al., 2016).

Addnally, only 12% of the youth reported that teachers tervened most or all of the time when they heard homophobic remarks; yet schools wh GSAs, 20% of youth reported teacher terventn rponse to homophobic statements (Kosciw et al., 2016).

LGBTQ YOUTH’S VIEWS ON GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC: BUILDG COMMUNY, PROVIDG GATEWAYS, AND REPRENTG SAFETY AND SUPPORT

The lack of social supports and higher risks of victimizatn of LGBTQ youth schools unrsr the importance of intifyg programs and polici that improve school climate and experienc for LGBTQ and LGBTQ-Foced Polici SchoolsGay-Straight Allianc may serve a particularly valuable support functn wh schools. School personnel schools wh a GSA are more likely to tervene when they hear homophobic remarks than those schools whout GSAs (Kosciw et al., 2016), and LGBTQ youth report greater school nnectedns and lower negative mental health out when attendg schools wh GSAs (Heck et al., 2013).

The recent change name om the “Gay-Straight Alliance Network” to the more clive “Genrs and Sexuali Alliance” work enurag nsiratn for how the programs may provi differential support for LGB and transgenr youth (GSA Network, 2016) school polici also play a val role strengtheng social supports schools for LGBTQ youth. Addnally, 47% intified as gay or lbian, 43% as bisexual, and 10% as qutng or other, and a majory of the participants (67%) reported disclosg their sexual or genr inty to eher classmat or teachers. More than half of the participants dited they received ee or rced lunch (59%), which was ed as a proxy for socenomic 1Frequenci, Means, and Standard Deviatns for Sample Demographics and Oute VariablPercent/Mean (SD)nSexual orientatn1, 061 Gay/Lbian47.

GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC: A MECHANISM OF HEALTH RISK RCTN AMONG LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUTNG ADOLCENTS

Bias-based bullyg was asssed through two ems based on the qutn, “Durg the past 12 months, how many tim on school property were you harassed or bullied for any of the followg reasons”: “Bee you are gay, lbian, or bisexual or someone thought you were” (homophobic bullyg) and “Bee of your sex or genr” (genr-based bullyg) (0 = never; 4 = more than once a day) (r =. The prence or absence of a GSA and LGBTQ-foced polici was asssed through two separate ems: “Do (did) your school have a Gay/Straight Alliance group?

CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOOLS WH AND WHOUT GAY-STRAIGHT ALLIANC

Mols were adjted for: sexual inty (1 = bisexual; 2 = qutng; gay/lbian was the reference tegory); assigned sex at birth (0 = female; 1 = male); genr inty (0 = cisgenr; 1 = transgenr); race (cludg Asian, Pacific Islanr, or Native Amerin; Black or Ain Amerin; multiple rac; and unreported, wh Whe as the reference tegory); ethnicy (0 = non-Hispanic; 1 = Hispanic); age; receipt of ee or rced school lunch (0 = no; 1 = y); fally, we created a dichotomo measure of beg out to school classmat and/or teachers based on youths’ rpons to the qutn, “who knows about your sexual inty/genr inty: classmate(s)?

Rults for each oute are reported Tabl 2 and ​ 2Summary of Ordal Logistic Regrsn Analys Predictg Homophobic and Genr-Based Bullyg (n = 1, 061)Homophobic BullygGenr-Based BullygOR95% CIOR95% CIGSA/LGBTQ-foced polici GSA only1. In le wh this hypothis, we found that youth had lower odds of experiencg equent homophobic bullyg schools wh LGBTQ-foced polici only (AOR = 0. Addnally, youth schools wh a GSA, but who were unsure if the school had LGBTQ-foced polici, were ls likely to experience equent homophobic bullyg (AOR = 0.