Sexual Minority, Lesbian, Bisexual, And Transgender Youth

Over the past decade, there has been a growing body of research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. Compared to their heterosexual peers, sexual minority (LGBT) youth struggle significantly, as they try to navigate through the social stigma attached to their sexual orientation. This population faces significant struggles due to a lack of social support, a hostile school environment, and incidences of bullying, harassment, and physical abuse. Compared to their heterosexual peers, sexual minority youth report experiencing more harassment and discrimination, due to their sexual orientation or gender expression. These experiences also include verbal and physical harassment, sexual harassment, isolation from peers, and difficulty†¦show more content†¦One resource that improves the psychosocial adjustment, academic performance, and overall well-being of sexual minority students, are social supports. Research has shown that when sexual minority youth have the proper s ocial supports in school and at home, as well as a supportive school environment, they are much more likely to succeed academically and thrive personally (Kosciw et al., 2011). The school environment plays a significant role in determining sexual minority students’ academic outcomes and psychosocial well-being. Although considerable research has examined the experiences of sexual minority youth, few compare that with their heterosexual peers. The purpose of this quantitative, true experiment, is to examine the effects school climate has on school performance for sexual minority high school students in comparison with their heterosexual peers. Literature Review Social support has been a frequently researched topic concerning the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Social support can come from teachers, parents, close friends, and peers, and research has shown that social support influences the psychosocial adjustment of sexual minority youth. Researchers Dorothy Espelage, Steven Aragon, and Michelle Birkett conducted a study which examined to what degree if any do parents and schools influence have on the mental health of high school students who are questioning their sexual