This dissertation aims to elucidate that current school-based mental health services need a more LGBTQI+ affirmative stance to counter and disrupt the heteronormativity, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia that LGBTQI+ students regularly encounter at school. Many LGBTQI+ students continue to be harassed, bullied, and discriminated against;…

Sexual minority (e.g. lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning; LGBQ) and gender minority (e.g. transgender) youth experience myriad health risks. Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) are school-based settings where they may have opportunities to discuss substance use, mental health, and sexual health issues in ways that are safe and tailored to their…

High school students are maturing physically, psychosocially, and sexually. Some may be unsure of their sexual orientation. The purpose of the study was to determine whether students who self-identified as homosexual-lesbian/gay, bisexual (LGB), and unsure of sexual orientation had more stressful life events (SLEs), perceived stress, bullying…

Mental health disparities between sexual minority and other youth have been theorized to result in part from the effects of the stigmatization on social integration. Stochastic actor-based modeling was applied to complete network data from two high schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (M[subscript age] = 15 years,…

Disclosure of sexual orientation and/or gender identity is a milestone event for lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) youth and can have both positive and negative mental health consequences. Twenty-nine urban, ethnically diverse LGBT high school students participated in face-to-face, in-depth interviews. Qualitative results revealed two…

Background: Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) are school-based clubs that can contribute to a healthy school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. While positive associations between health behaviors and GSAs have been documented, less is known about how youth perceive GSAs. Methods: A total of 58 LGBTQ youth…

This study explores the characteristics and risk behaviors of sexual minority high school students using the 2011 Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Among 3,043 students surveyed, 8% of students identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or unsure, and 7% reported having contact with same-sex partners. Findings indicate sexual minority students…

This study investigates the mediating role of school victimization in the relationship between lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) young adults' feelings of high school belonging and current mental health (both depression and general psychological distress) outcomes. A total of 145 LGBT young adults were recruited from college LGBT…

The [Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network] GLSEN National School Climate Survey is our flagship report on the school experiences of [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer] LGBTQ youth in schools, including the extent of the challenges that they face at school and the school-based resources that support LGBTQ students' well-being.…

The "National School Climate Survey" is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) flagship report on the school experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth in schools, including the extent of the challenges that they face at school and the school-based resources that support LGBTQ students'…

A total of 11,447 high school students were surveyed to test the relation between victimization and the educational outcomes of truancy, post-high school intentions, and grades for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) and non-LGBTQ students. LGBTQ students reported statistically higher truancy, lower grades, greater…

This study examined the link between victimization and sexual orientation and how this link contributes to social-emotional health, extending to school-related outcomes among adolescents. Of additional interest was whether having caring adult support was a protective factor in reducing the risk for high levels of distress or enhancing positive…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are at risk for engaging in negative health behaviors and for experiencing at-school victimization. Specific benefits of attending a high school with a gay-straight alliance (GSA), including lower levels of suicidality, have been published; however, it is unclear whether GSAs are related to…

Many adolescents experience peer victimization, which often can be homophobic. Applying the minority stress model with attention to intersecting social identities, this study tested the effects of general and homophobic victimization on several educational outcomes through suicidality and school belonging among 15,923 adolescents in Grades 7…

Adolescents with homosexual and bisexual orientations have higher levels of psychological distress than other adolescents. Drawing from previous studies, I hypothesize that this epidemiological pattern is due largely to the interpersonal problems that sexual minorities experience at home and at school. Analysis of longitudinal data based on a…