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Promoting Youth Agency Through Dimensions of Gay–Straight Alliance Involvement and Conditions that Maximize Associations

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Abstract

Gay–Straight Alliances (GSAs) may promote wellbeing for sexual minority youth (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning youth) and heterosexual youth. We considered this potential benefit of GSAs in the current study by examining whether three GSA functions—support/socializing, information/resource provision, and advocacy—contributed to sense of agency among GSA members while controlling for two major covariates, family support and the broader school LGBT climate. The sample included 295 youth in 33 Massachusetts GSAs (69 % LGBQ, 68 % cisgender female, 68 % white; M age = 16.06 years). Based on multilevel models, as hypothesized, youth who received more support/socializing, information/resources, and did more advocacy in their GSA reported greater agency. Support/socializing and advocacy distinctly contributed to agency even while accounting for the contribution of family support and positive LGBT school climate. Further, advocacy was associated with agency for sexual minority youth but not heterosexual youth. Greater organizational structure enhanced the association between support/socializing and agency; it also enhanced the association between advocacy and agency for sexual minority youth. These findings begin to provide empirical support for specific functions of GSAs that could promote wellbeing and suggest conditions under which their effects may be enhanced.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participating GSAs, the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, Jeff Perrotti, and Arthur Lipkin for their roles in and support of the Massachusetts GSA Network project.

Authors’ Contributions

All authors contributed to the conceptualization and writing of the manuscript, as well as to the interpretation of the statistical analyses. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

Support for the writing of this manuscript was partially based on funding awarded from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), 1R01MD009458-01, to Poteat (Principal Investigator) and Calzo and Yoshikawa (Co-Investigators). Additional support for the second author (Calzo) was provided by funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), K01DA034753.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boston College, Boston, MA, USA

    V. Paul Poteat

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

    Jerel P. Calzo

  3. New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Hirokazu Yoshikawa

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  1. V. Paul Poteat
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  2. Jerel P. Calzo
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  3. Hirokazu Yoshikawa
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Correspondence to V. Paul Poteat.

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The authors report no conflict of interests.

Ethical Approval

Approval for secondary data analysis was granted by the Boston College Institutional Review Board.

Informed Consent

GSA advisors granted adult consent for all youth who participated in completing the survey.

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Poteat, V.P., Calzo, J.P. & Yoshikawa, H. Promoting Youth Agency Through Dimensions of Gay–Straight Alliance Involvement and Conditions that Maximize Associations. J Youth Adolescence 45, 1438–1451 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0421-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0421-6

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