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Pediatric Healthcare Providers’, College Students’, and Community Adults’ Moral Condemnation Beliefs Toward Sexual and Gender Minority Individuals

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Abstract

Introduction

Prejudice toward sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals plays a significant role in SGM youth healthcare. This study examines relations between psychosocial predictors (spirituality, religiosity, SGM education, experience with SGM individuals) and SGM moral condemnation among three distinct samples.

Methods

This study utilized online questionnaires to assess moral condemnation toward SGM individuals, religiosity, spirituality, SGM experience, and education/training about SGM individuals. The questionnaires were distributed to a college sample, community sample, and pediatric healthcare provider sample. Data were collected in years 2016–2019.

Results

Religiosity positively predicted moral condemnation in all three samples. Spirituality positively predicted moral condemnation in the community and college samples, but not the provider sample. Education about SGM individuals, previous experience with SGM individuals, having a close SGM friend/family member, and self-reporting previous personal discrimination experiences, as a set, significantly explained additional variance in SGM moral condemnation within the community and college sample, but not within the healthcare provider sample.

Conclusion

This study lays groundwork for innovative research to further improve pediatric SGM healthcare and to increase the extent to which SGM youth disclose and discuss specific healthcare risks with their medical providers.

Policy Implications

There is a significant need for social policy focused on decreasing SGM stigmatization and discrimination within the healthcare environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Center for Behavioral Health, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, 880 6th Street South, Suite 420, St. Petersburg, Florida, 33701, USA

    Sarah E. Stromberg, Lendi Joy, Alyssa Fritz, Emma Rissman & Melissa A. Faith

  2. Deparment of Psychology, Children’s Health- Children’s Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

    Wade C. McDonald

Authors
  1. Sarah E. Stromberg
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  2. Wade C. McDonald
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  3. Lendi Joy
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  4. Alyssa Fritz
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  5. Emma Rissman
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  6. Melissa A. Faith
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Correspondence to Sarah E. Stromberg.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval

Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of University of Texas Southwest Medical Center. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Patients provided consent regarding publishing their data.

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Stromberg, S.E., McDonald, W.C., Joy, L. et al. Pediatric Healthcare Providers’, College Students’, and Community Adults’ Moral Condemnation Beliefs Toward Sexual and Gender Minority Individuals. Sex Res Soc Policy 18, 495–506 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-020-00474-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-020-00474-6

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