ERIC Number: EJ1186920
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Sep
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0743-5584
EISSN: N/A
"Pray That God Will Change You": The Religious Social Ecology of Bias-Based Bullying Targeting Sexual and Gender Minority Youth--A Qualitative Study of Service Providers and Educators
Newman, Peter A.; Fantus, Sophia; Woodford, Michael R.; Rwigema, Marie-Jolie
Journal of Adolescent Research, v33 n5 p523-548 Sep 2018
The bullying of sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) is pervasive, with documented negative impacts on health. We explored the social ecology of bullying of SGMY, with a focus on religion as a source or context of bullying. Semistructured interviews with service providers, educators, and administrators in Toronto, Canada, who work with SGMY explored perspectives on the bullying of SGMY, focusing on religiously based bullying and strategies for intervention. Interviews (45-60 minutes) were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic content analysis. The data revealed religiously based homophobic discourse that permeates religious (places of worship, faith-based schools) and secular microsystems (public schools, families) across SGMY's social ecology. The language and ideology of "sin" and "conversion" were evidenced in direct religiously based bullying of SGMY in schools, and victimization in places of worship and family microsystems, as well as serving as a rationale for bullying and nonintervention by teachers, school staff, administrators, and family members. Multisectoral and multilevel influences of religiously based sexual prejudice on the bullying of SGMY suggest that existing individual-level and microsystem-level responses in schools should be augmented with institutional, policy, and legal interventions in SGMY's more distal social ecology in order to effectively prevent religiously based homophobic bullying.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Bullying, Minority Groups, Religious Factors, Social Influences, Semi Structured Interviews, Teacher Attitudes, Administrator Attitudes, Intervention, Social Bias, Homosexuality, Sexual Orientation, Sexual Identity
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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: Canada (Toronto)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A