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Gay-Straight Alliances Vary on Dimensions of Youth Socializing and Advocacy: Factors Accounting for Individual and Setting-Level Differences

  • Original Article
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American Journal of Community Psychology

Abstract

Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) are school-based youth settings that could promote health. Yet, GSAs have been treated as homogenous without attention to variability in how they operate or to how youth are involved in different capacities. Using a systems perspective, we considered two primary dimensions along which GSAs function to promote health: providing socializing and advocacy opportunities. Among 448 students in 48 GSAs who attended six regional conferences in Massachusetts (59.8 % LGBQ; 69.9 % White; 70.1 % cisgender female), we found substantial variation among GSAs and youth in levels of socializing and advocacy. GSAs were more distinct from one another on advocacy than socializing. Using multilevel modeling, we identified group and individual factors accounting for this variability. In the socializing model, youth and GSAs that did more socializing activities did more advocacy. In the advocacy model, youth who were more actively engaged in the GSA as well as GSAs whose youth collectively perceived greater school hostility and reported greater social justice efficacy did more advocacy. Findings suggest potential reasons why GSAs vary in how they function in ways ranging from internal provisions of support, to visibility raising, to collective social change. The findings are further relevant for settings supporting youth from other marginalized backgrounds and that include advocacy in their mission.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    V. Paul Poteat & Jillian R. Scheer

  2. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Robert A. Marx

  3. Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Jerel P. Calzo

  4. New York University, New York City, NY, USA

    Hirokazu Yoshikawa

Authors
  1. V. Paul Poteat
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  2. Jillian R. Scheer
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  3. Robert A. Marx
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  4. Jerel P. Calzo
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  5. Hirokazu Yoshikawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to V. Paul Poteat.

Appendix

Appendix

Below is the full list of socializing and advocacy activities/events in which students reported their involvement. These were randomly ordered in the survey. Students also were provided space to write in additional activities/events that were coded as socializing or advocacy.

Socializing Activities/Events

  • BAGLY Prom

  • Coffee House

  • Dances

  • Facebook Page

  • Halloween Dance

  • Movie Nights

  • Poetry Slam

  • Talent Show

  • Valentine’s Day Dance

Note BAGLY (Boston Alliance of LGBT Youth) is a large statewide network of LGBT community-based youth groups in Massachusetts not limited to Boston.

Advocacy Activities/Events

  • Ally Week

  • Classroom Presentations

  • Day of Silence

  • Decorating School Bulletin Board

  • Diversity Week

  • National Coming Out Day

  • Tabling at Open Houses

  • Tabling in Cafeteria

  • T-Shirts/Sweatshirts

  • Workshops or Conferences

  • Wristbands/Buttons

  • Youth Pride

Note Although T-shirts/sweatshirts and wristband/buttons are not as large-scale or as prominent as school- or community-wide events such as Day of Silence or National Coming Out Day, we confirmed with the GSA Network and GSA advisors that these activities are done with the express intent to raise awareness of LGBT issues in the school, and thus we classified them as advocacy.

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Poteat, V.P., Scheer, J.R., Marx, R.A. et al. Gay-Straight Alliances Vary on Dimensions of Youth Socializing and Advocacy: Factors Accounting for Individual and Setting-Level Differences. Am J Community Psychol 55, 422–432 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-015-9722-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-015-9722-2

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