ERIC Number: EJ1398010
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1936-1653
EISSN: EISSN-1936-1661
"They Peed on My Shoes": Foregrounding Intersectional Minority Stress in Understanding LGBTQ Youth Homelessness
Robinson, Brandon Andrew
Journal of LGBT Youth, v20 n4 p783-799 2023
Minority stress is a cause of health challenges for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth experiencing homelessness. However, in over-focusing on family rejection, the research on LGBTQ youth homelessness often misses how minority stress itself can shape the youth's perceived pathways into and experiences of homelessness. A main objective of this study, then, foregrounds minority stress in understanding LGBTQ youth homelessness. To achieve this objective, the author conducted ethnographic fieldwork in central Texas and interviewed 40 LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness. The author shows how experiencing intersecting minority stressors, especially within families and youth-serving institutions, is part of the perceived pathways into homelessness. The author also documents how experiencing homelessness in conjunction with experiencing anti-LGBTQ perceived discrimination, violence, and other minority stressors such as racism impact the youth's mental health challenges while living on the streets. A second objective of this study, then, shows how anti-LGBTQ discrimination intersects with other forms of prejudice and discrimination to shape the youth's stressors and pathways into and experiences of homelessness. The author concludes that intersecting minority stressors shape perceived pathways into homelessness and compound with the socially stressful experiences of homelessness, but social support, especially LGBTQ-specific support, can help ameliorate these challenges.
Descriptors: Homeless People, LGBTQ People, Stress Variables, Minority Groups, Social Bias, Youth, Family Environment, At Risk Persons, Influences, Racism, Mental Health, Social Discrimination, Coping, Racial Discrimination, Gender Bias, Depression (Psychology)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Texas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A