Elizabeth A. McConnell

Typologies of Social Support and Associations with Mental Health Outcomes Among LGBT Youth

PURPOSE Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth show increased risk for a number of negative mental health outcomes, which research has linked to minority stressors such as victimization. Further, social support promotes positive mental health outcomes for LGBT youth, and different sources of social support show differential relationships with mental health outcomes. However, little is known about how combinations of different sources of support impact mental health. METHODS In the present study, we identify clusters of family, peer, and significant other social support and then examine demographic and mental health differences by cluster in an analytic sample of 232 LGBT youth between the ages of 16 and 20 years. RESULTS Using k-means cluster analysis, three social support cluster types were identified: high support (44.0% of participants), low support (21.6%), and non-family support (34.5%). A series of chi-square tests were used to examine demographic differences between these clusters, which were found for socio-economic status (SES). Regression analyses indicated that, while controlling for victimization, individuals within the three clusters showed different relationships with multiple mental health outcomes: loneliness, hopelessness, depression, anxiety, somatization, general symptom severity, and symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD). CONCLUSION Findings suggest the combinations of sources of support LGBT youth receive are related to their mental health. Higher SES youth are more likely to receive support from family, peers, and significant others. For most mental health outcomes, family support appears to be an especially relevant and important source of support to target for LGBT youth.

The Role of Attitudes Toward White Privilege and Religious Beliefs in Predicting Social Justice Interest and Commitment

The current study examines links among attitudes toward White privilege, religious beliefs, and social justice interest and commitment for White Christian students. Two distinct patterns of results emerged from a path analysis of 500 White Christian students. First, a willingness to confront White privilege was positively associated with the sanctification of social justice (i.e., attributing spiritual significance to working for social justice) and both were positively associated with social justice interest and commitment. Second, awareness of White privilege was negatively associated with religious conservatism, and religious conservatism was negatively associated with social justice interest. These patterns show that White privilege attitudes directly (i.e., willingness to confront White privilege) and indirectly (i.e., awareness of White privilege through religious conservatism) predicted social justice interest and commitment. Moreover, religious beliefs demonstrated opposite patterns of association with social justice interest and commitment such that the sanctification of social justice positively predicted social justice interest and commitment whereas religious conservatism negatively predicted social justice interest. Overall, findings demonstrate direct and indirect links between White privilege attitudes, religious beliefs, and social justice interest and commitment. Limitations and implications for future community psychology research and collaboration also are discussed.

Identity, victimization, and support: Facebook experiences and mental health among LGBTQ youth

The rise of social networking sites (SNSs) has created new contexts within which lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth and young adults manage their social identities and relationships. On one hand, SNSs provide important social support; on the other, they comprise another realm for victimization and discrimination. Context collapse refers to the ways diverse subgroups (e.g., family, co-workers) are often united in Facebook networks, which presents unique challenges related to outness. In this study, we examine the Facebook contexts of a cohort of LGBTQ youth and young adults with regard to outness, victimization, social support, and psychological distress by first examining descriptive statistics and correlations, and then testing a series of multiple regressions in an analytic sample of 175 (Mage = 24.02 years) LGBTQ youth. Participants reported levels of daily Facebook use comparable to other samples of non-LGBTQ youth; however, they reported greater use of security controls, which may function as a tool for managing outness. Participants reported slightly lower outness across relational subgroups on Facebook, and associations between outness to relational subgroups were slightly stronger on Facebook, illustrating the potential impact of context collapse. Regression results showed that great victimization, cyberbullying, and the offering of support online were positively associated with psychological distress. Study findings illuminate how LGBTQ youth use and manage their identities on Facebook and highlight the importance of online contexts in shaping wellbeing for LGBtQ outh and young adults.

The Future of Big Data: Innovative Methodological Approaches

We live in an age of ‘big data,’ where it is increasingly easy to access overwhelming amounts of information about a person in minimal time. Depending on the role we inhabit, we may have different and sometimes contradictory reactions to this easy access to data. As consumers, we may be concerned about the security of sensitive information (‘Did I use a credit card at Home Depot last year?’) or invasion of our privacy (‘How does Amazon know I want a blue teakettle?’). As community members, we may approach our relationships (‘Is it awkward if I friend him on Facebook?’) or communications (‘Do I really want to say that in an e-mail?’) with more caution. As citizens, we may wonder what kind of digital trail we are leaving and how it might impact us in the future (‘If it shows up on Google, does it show up in a background screening?’). But as researchers, we may have an entirely different reaction; namely, ‘This would make such a cool study!’ One such response to a National Public Radio story on big data recently almost got one of us (E.A.M.) evicted from a fastmoving car containing the rest of her immediate family. ‘But

Multiple Minority Stress and LGBT Community Resilience Among Sexual Minority Men.

Minority stress theory has widespread empirical support in explaining health disparities experienced by sexual and gender minorities. However, less is known about how minority stress impacts multiply marginalized groups, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of color (LGBT POC). Also, although research has documented resilience in the face of minority stress at the individual level, research that examines macrolevel processes such as community resilience is needed (Meyer, 2015). In the current study, we integrate minority stress theory and intersectionality theory to examine multiple minority stress (i.e., racial–ethnic stigma in LGBT spaces and LGBT stigma in one’s neighborhood) and community resilience (i.e., connection to LGBT community) among sexual minority men of different racial–ethnic groups who use a geosocial networking application for meeting sexual partners. Results showed that Black sexual minority men reported the highest levels of racial–ethnic stigma in LGBT spaces and that White sexual minority men reported the lowest levels, with Asian and Hispanic–Latino men falling in between. Consistent with minority stress theory, racial–ethnic stigma in LGBT spaces and LGBT stigma in one’s neighborhood were associated with greater stress for sexual minority men of all racial–ethnic groups. However, connection to LGBT community played a more central role in mediating the relationship between stigma and stress for White than POC sexual minority men. Results suggest that minority stress and community resilience processes may differ for White and POC sexual minority men. Potential processes driving these differences and implications for minority stress theory are discussed.

Christian campus-ministry groups at public universities and opposition to same-sex marriage

This study investigates Christian campus-ministry groups at public universities to understand how these groups may be associated with students same-sex marriage attitudes. Based on a multilevel modeling analysis with 292 students from 30 such groups, we found the religious tradition of the campus-ministry group moderated how student participation in the group and student religious conservatism were associated with opposition to same-sex marriage. Specifically, greater participation in evangelical Protestant or Catholic campus-ministry groups was positively associated with opposition to same-sex marriage, whereas the association was not significant for students in mainline Protestant groups. Moreover, the association between student religious conservatism and opposition was positive and significant in evangelical Protestant and Catholic groups, but was not significant in mainline Protestant groups. This shows that the association between student religious beliefs and opposition to gay marriage may be different depending on the type of campus-ministry group a student attends. Implications and limitations also are discussed.

Trans women and Michfest: An ethnophenomenology of attendees' experiences.

ABSTRACT The rise of queer and transgender studies has greatly contributed to feminist and lesbian understandings of sex, gender, and sexuality and also has resulted in rifts, tensions, and border wars. One such tension is around the inclusion of trans women in women-only space, such as the Michigan Womyns Music Festival (Michfest). In this ethnophenomenological study, we interviewed and surveyed 43 cisgender women who attended Michfest in 2013. Participants had a variety of perspectives on trans inclusion and on the dialogue surrounding it, and these paralleled intersections, frictions, and tensions between feminism, queer theory, and transgender studies.

Differences in White Privilege Attitudes and Religious Beliefs Across Racial Affect Types

This study extends research on the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites (PCRW) cluster types. We examined differences in White privilege attitudes across different PCRW cluster types in a sample of White Christian students (N = 437). We also examined differences in religious beliefs, specifically religious liberalism and sanctification of social justice, across students in different PCRW cluster types. This provides an initial intersection of PCRW cluster types, White privilege attitudes, and religious beliefs. We found that, compared with students in all other types, students in the Antiracist cluster type reported (a) higher levels of White privilege attitudes conducive to working for racial justice (i.e., willingness to confront White privilege, White privilege awareness, and White privilege remorse) and (b) higher levels of religious liberalism. We also found differences for sanctification of social justice. We discuss additional findings and implications for counseling psychologists and diversity educators working with White Christian students.

Minority stress and relationship functioning among young male same-sex couples: An examination of actor–partner interdependence models.

Objective: In different-sex couples, individual and partner stress can both have a negative impact on relationship functioning (actor and partner effects). Gay and bisexual men experience unique stress (sexual minority stress), but few studies have examined the effects of this stress on relationship functioning among young male couples. The current study examined (a) actor and partner effects of general and minority stress (internalized stigma, microaggressions, victimization, and outness) on relationship functioning (relationship quality and negative relationship interactions), (b) interactions between individual and partner stress as predictors of relationship functioning, and (c) dyadic coping and relationship length as moderators of actor and partner effects. Method: Actor–partner interdependence models were tested using data from 153 young male couples. Results: There was strong support for actor effects. Higher general stress and internalized stigma were associated with lower relationship quality, but only for those in longer relationships. Additionally, higher general stress, internalized stigma, and microaggressions, and lower outness, were associated with more negative relationship interactions. There was limited support for partner effects. Having a partner with higher internalized stigma was associated with more negative relationship interactions, but none of the other partner effects were significant. There was no support for individual and partner stress interacting to predict relationship functioning or for dyadic coping as a stress buffer. Conclusions: Findings highlight the influence of one’s own experiences of general and minority stress on relationship functioning, but raise questions about how partner stress influences relationship functioning among young male couples.

Risking It Anyway: An Adolescent Case Study of Trauma, Sexual and Gender Identities, and Relationality

ABSTRACT This article presents the case of a Chinese–American adolescent with a significant trauma history who was questioning her sexual and gender identities. The implications of the clients intersecting identities for case conceptualization and treatment are considered within the framework of affirmative practices for sexual and gender minority (SGM) clients. The impacts of stress and trauma on this clients experiences—and SGM clients more broadly—are also considered, particularly with respect to how this client understood and negotiated her experiences of relational trauma. This case is intended to illustrate some best practices with SGM clients within an intersectional framework which underscores the importance of multiple salient cultural identities.