Abstract
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth with disabilities are at risk for being cyberbullied. Additionally, these risks can be compounded by other intersectional factors, such as cultural identity. Youth with multiple marginalized identities are at risk for stress, discrimination, and poor mental health outcomes as a result of bullying. However, research exploring the intersections between risk, sexual identity, and disability is sparse. In this article, we begin to address this gap in a diverse sample of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth who have reported being cyberbullied in the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System. We discuss implications for child and family studies, identifying opportunities for further discussion on risk, mental health, and person-in-environment factors for lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth with disabilities.
Highlights
-
Child and family practitioners should be holistically inclusive and attend to intersectionality, affirming disability, sexual identity, and other identities.
-
Cyberbullied sexual minority youth, especially those youth of color who had disabilities, were more likely than not to report poor mental health.
-
Practitioners should understand the intersectional dimensions of people’s lives, treating them as whole people.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abreu, R. L., & Kenny, M. C. (2018). Cyberbullying and LGBTQ youth: A systematic literature review and recommendations for prevention and intervention. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 11(1), 81–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-017-0175-7.
Almeida, R. V., Werkmeister Rozas, L. M., Cross-Denny, B., Lee, K. K., & Yamada, A. M. (2019). Coloniality and intersectionality in social work education and practice. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 30(2), 148–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428232.2019.1574195.
Azzopardi, C. (2020). Cross-cultural social work: A critical approach to teaching and learning to work effectively across intersectional identities. British Journal of Social Work, 50(2), 464–482. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz169.
Beckerman, N. L., & Auerbach, C. (2014). PTSD as aftermath for bullied LGBT adolescents: The case for comprehensive assessment. Social Work in Mental Health, 12(3), 195–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332985.2014.888026.
Beresford, P., & Croft, S. (2001). Service users’ knowledges and the social construction of social work. Journal of Social Work, 1(3), 295–316. https://doi.org/10.1177/146801730100100304.
Bills, K. L. (2020). Helping children with disabilities combat negative socio-emotional outcomes caused by bullying through extracurricular activities. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 30(5), 573–585. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2020.1718052.
Birkett, M., Espelage, D. L., & Koenig, B. (2009). LGB and questioning students in schools: The moderating effects of homophobic bullying and school climate on negative outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(7), 989–1000. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9389-1.
Butler, L. D., Mercer, K. A., McClain-Meeder, K., Horne, D. M., & Dudley, M. (2019). Six domains of self-care: Attending to the whole person. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 29(1), 107–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2018.1482483.
Byers, D. S. (2013). “Do they see nothing wrong with this?”: Bullying, bystander complicity, and the role of homophobic bias in the Tyler Clementi case. Families in Society, 94(4), 251–258. https://doi.org/10.1606/1044-3894.4325.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020). Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance--United States, 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/2019/su6901-H.pdf.
Chatzitheochari, S., Parsons, S., & Platt, L. (2016). Doubly disadvantaged? Bullying experiences among disabled children and young people in England. Sociology, 50(4), 695–713. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038515574813.
Cho, Y. K., & Yoo, J. W. (2017). Cyberbullying, internet and SNS usage types, and perceived social support: A comparison of different age groups. Information, Communication & Society, 20(10), 1464–1481. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1228998.
Council on Social Work Education (2015). Educational policy and accreditation standards. https://www.cswe.org/getattachment/Accreditation/Accreditation-Process/2015-EPAS/2015EPAS_Web_FINAL.pdf.aspx.
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Identity politics, intersectionality, and violence against women. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299.
Cyrus, K. (2017). Multiple minorities as multiply marginalized: Applying the minority stress theory to LGBTQ people of color. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 21(3), 194–202. https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2017.132073.
Dentato, M. P., Craig, S. L., Lloyd, M. R., Kelly, B. L., Wright, C., & Austin, A. (2016). Homophobia within schools of social work: The critical need for affirming classroom settings and effective preparation for service with the LGBTQ community. Social Work Education, 35(6), 672–692. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2016.1150452.
Dirth, T. P., & Branscombe, N. R. (2017). Disability models affect disability policy support through awareness of structural discrimination. Journal of Social Issues, 73(2), 413–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12224.
Durak, H. Y., & Saritepeci, M. (2020). Examination of the relationship between cyberbullying and cyber victimization. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(10), 2905–2915. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-020-01768-4.
Espinoza, G., & Wright, M. (2018). Cyberbullying experiences among marginalized youth: what do we know and where do we go next?. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 11, 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-018-0207-y.
Farmer, T. W., Petrin, R., Brooks, D. S., Hamm, J. V., Lambert, K., & Gravelle, M. (2012). Bullying involvement and the school adjustment of rural students with and without disabilities. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 20(1), 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1177/1063426610392039.
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 21(3), 219–239. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136617.
Ford, R., King, T., Priest, N., & Kavanagh, A. (2017). Bullying and mental health and suicidal behaviour among 14-to 15-year-olds in a representative sample of Australian children. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 51(9), 897–908. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867417700275.
Formby, E. (2015). Limitations of focussing on homophobic, biphobic and transphobic ‘bullying’to understand and address LGBT young people’s experiences within and beyond school. Sex Education, 15(6), 626–640. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2015.1054024.
Gallup (2019). How Do You Measure the LGBT Population in the U.S.? https://news.gallup.com/opinion/methodology/259457/measure-lgbt-population.aspx.
Gates, T. G., Bennett, B., & Baines, D. (2023). Strengthening critical allyship in social work education: Opportunities in the context of #BlackLivesMatter and COVID-19. Social Work Education, 42(3), 371–387. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2021.1972961.
Gower, A. L., Rider, G. N., McMorris, B. J., & Eisenberg, M. E. (2018). Bullying victimization among LGBTQ youth: critical issues and future directions. Current Sexual Health Reports, 10(4), 246–254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11930-018-0169-y.
Hymel, S., & Swearer, S. M. (2015). Four decades of research on school bullying: An introduction. American Psychologist, 70(4), 293 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038928.
International Federation of Social Workers (2018). Global social work statement of ethical principles. https://www.ifsw.org/global-social-work-statement-of-ethical-principles/.
Johns, M. M., Poteat, V. P., Horn, S. S., & Kosciw, J. (2019). Strengthening our schools to promote resilience and health among LGBTQ youth: Emerging evidence and research priorities from The State of LGBTQ Youth Health and Wellbeing Symposium. LGBT Health, 6(4), 146–155. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2018.0109.
Kosciw, J. G., Clark, C. M., Truong, N. L., & Zongrone, A. D. (2020). The 2019 National School Climate Survey: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Youth in Our Nation’s Schools. A Report from GLSEN. Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). 121 West 27th Street Suite 804, New York, NY 10001.
Kowalski, R. M., & Toth, A. (2018). “Cyberbullying Among Youth with and Without Disabilities.”. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 11(1), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-017-0139-y.
Lai, T., & Kao, G. (2018). Hit, robbed, and put down (but not bullied): Underreporting of bullying by minority and male students. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47(3), 619–635. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0748-7.
Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
Lehman, B. (2016). Latino students in new destinations: Immigration, extracurricular activities, and bullying victimization. Education and Youth Today, 20(1), 123–144. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120160000020005.
LGBT Demographic Data Interactive. (January 2019). Los Angeles, CA: The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law.
Lundahl, B. W., & Hull, G. H. (2015). Applied human behavior in the social environment. Boston: Pearson.
McCann, E., & Brown, M. (2019). Homelessness among youth who identify as LGBTQ+: A systematic review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28(11/12), 2061–2072. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14818.
Meyer, I. H. (2003a). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674–697. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674.
Meyer, I. H. (2003b). Prejudice as stress: Conceptual and measurement problems. American Journal of Public Health, 93(2), 262–265. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.93.2.262.
Meyer, I. H., Russell, S. T., Hammack, P. L., Frost, D. M., & Wilson, B. D. M. (2021). Minority stress, distress, and suicide attempts in three cohorts of sexual minority adults: A US probability sample. PLOS ONE, 16(3), Article e0246827 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246827.
Miller, R. A. (2018). Toward intersectional identity perspectives on disability and LGBTQ identities in higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 59(3), 327–346. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2018.0030.
Olweus, D., & Limber, S. P. (2018). Some problems with cyberbullying research. Current opinion in psychology, 19, 139–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.04.012.
Ophir, Y., Asterhan, C. S., & Schwarz, B. B. (2019). The digital footprints of adolescent depression, social rejection and victimization of bullying on Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 91, 62–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.09.025.
Pascoe, C.J. (2022). Bullying as a social problem. In C. Donoghue (Ed.) The Sociology of Bullying: Power, Status, and Aggression Among Adolescents (pp. 76–94). NYU Press.
Robinson, B. A., & Schmitz, R. M. (2021). Beyond resilience: Resistance in the lives of LGBTQ youth. Sociology Compass, 15(12), e12947 https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12947.
Romanelli, M., Xiao, Y., & Lindsey, M. A. (2020). Sexual identity–behavior profiles and suicide outcomes among heterosexual, lesbian, and gay sexually active adolescents. Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior, 50(4), 921–933. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12634.
Rose, C. A., Simpson, C. G., & Moss, A. (2015). The bullying dynamic: Prevalence of involvement among a large‐scale sample of middle and high school youth with and without disabilities. Psychology in the Schools, 52(5), 515–531. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21840.
Saleebey, D. (2000). Power in the people: Strengths and hope. Advances in Social Work, 1(2), 127–136. https://doi.org/10.18060/18.
Salway, T. J., Morgan, J., Ferlatte, O., Hawkins, B., Lachowsky, N. J., & Gilbert, M. (2019). A systematic review of characteristics of nonprobability community venue samples of sexual minority individuals and associated methods for assessing selection bias. LGBT Health, 6(5), 205–215. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2018.0241.
Schmitz, R. M., Robinson, B. A., & Sanchez, J. (2020). Intersectional family systems approach: LGBTQ+ Latino/a youth, family dynamics, and stressors. Family Relations, 69(4), 832–848. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12448.
Southwick, S. M., Vythilingam, M., & Charney, D. S. (2005). The psychobiology of depression and resilience to stress: Implications for prevention and treatment. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 255–291. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.143948.
Sterzing, P. R., Auslander, W. F., & Goldbach, J. T. (2014). An exploratory study of bullying involvement for sexual minority youth: Bully-only, victim-only, and bully-victim roles. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 5(3), 321–337. https://doi.org/10.1086/677903.
Sterzing, P. R., Hong, J. S., Gartner, R. E., & Auslander, W. F. (2016). Child maltreatment and bullying victimization among a community-based sample of sexual minority youth: The meditating role of psychological distress. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 9(4), 283–293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-016-0101-4.
Sumihira, A. (2020). Intersectionality and sisterhood in the time of Covid-19. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 32(2), 49–54. https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol32iss2id743.
Swenson, I., Gates, T. G., Dentato, M. P., & Kelly, B. L. (2021). Strengths-based behavioral telehealth with sexual and gender diverse clients at Center on Halsted. Social Work in Health Care, 60(1), 78–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/00981389.2021.1885561.
Tisdall, E. K. M. (2012). The challenge and challenging of childhood studies? Learning from disability studies and research with disabled children. Children & Society, 26(3), 181–191. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2012.00431.x.
Wagaman, M. A., Watts, K. J., Lamneck, V., D’Souza, S. A., McInroy, L. B., Eaton, A. D., & Craig, S. (2020). Managing stressors online and offline: LGBTQ+ youth in the Southern United States. Children and Youth Services Review, 110, 104799 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104799.
White House Conference on Bullying (2017). Risk factors and impact of bullying. https://www.stopbullying.gov/sites/default/files/2017-09/white_house_conference_materials.pdf.
Williams, S. L., Job, S. A., Todd, E., & Braun, K. (2020). A critical deconstructed quantitative analysis: Sexual and gender minority stress through an intersectional lens. Journal of Social Issues, 76(4), 859–879. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12410.
Zych, I., Farrington, D. P., & Ttofi, M. M. (2019). Protective factors against bullying and cyberbullying: A systematic review of meta-analyses. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 45, 4–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2018.06.008.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Gates, T.G., Bills, K.L., Bennett, B. et al. Cyberbullying, Mental Health, and Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth with Disabilities: Intersectionalities and Environmental Risks. J Child Fam Stud 32, 3159–3166 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02679-w
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02679-w