Abstract
The presence of Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) in schools has been linked to low rates of bullying for lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning (LGBQ), transgender, and all students. However, little is known about how the heterogeneity in GSA functioning and school climates may affect these rates. This study examines whether a well-functioning GSA would limit the effect of a negative school climate as a risk factor for homophobic victimization experiences. The sample included 38,872 students (3401 LGBQ and 453 transgender) from 58 California high schools. Several independent databases were combined. Students reported on homophobic victimization, the school climate, and demographic information. At the school level, reports from all students were aggregated for school climate; reports from GSA members were aggregated on their perceptions of GSA functioning; publicly-available data were used for school characteristics. The results suggest that greater GSA functioning may be beneficial for all students in schools that have a negative school climate, and particularly protective for transgender students.
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Acknowledgements
The California Healthy Kids Survey was developed by WestEd under contract to the California Department of Education.
Authors’ Contributions
S.I. conceptualized and designed the study, conducted statistical analyses, drafted the paper, and reviewed and revised the paper; S.T.R. conceptualized and designed the study and critically reviewed the paper for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final paper.
Funding
This work was supported by the Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO), [grant number 12V8120N], and by grant, P2CHD042849, Population Research Center, awarded to the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors acknowledge generous support from the Communities for Just Schools Fund, and for Russell from the Priscilla Pond Flawn Endowment at the University of Texas at Austin.
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The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This study was approved by the University of Texas at Austin Review Board. IRB Amendment Approval for Protocol Number 2017-04-0070. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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Ioverno, S., Russell, S.T. Homophobic Bullying in Positive and Negative School Climates: The Moderating Role of Gender Sexuality Alliances. J Youth Adolescence 50, 353–366 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01297-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01297-9