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ABSTRACT: This article develops a model that describes relations among environmental characteristics, discrimination and visibility management, and the experience of minority stressors by lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth. The article elaborates on how visibility management (i.e., regulating the exposure of one's sexual orientation) of LGB youth can function as a coping strategy and is, therefore, closely tied to the experience of minority stressors. Qualitative support is found for the theoretical model in conducting 24 in-depth interviews with LGB youth. The analysis also shows that LGB youth use specific mannerisms, gender-nonconformist behaviors, and other indirect cues to make themselves visible or invisible as LGBs.
Journal of Homosexuality 05/2013; 60(5):685-710. · 0.47 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study focuses on differences in sense of belonging between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) and heterosexual students. Data from 1,745 secondary school students were collected with an online survey. Step-wise multiple regression analyses was used to investigate the relationship between sexual orientation and sense of school belonging. The results show that sexual orientation has an impact on sense of belonging for girls, but not for boys. Perceived discrimination and LGB friendliness of the school appeared to be important indicators of sense of belonging for all the respondents, irrespective of their sexual orientation.
Journal of Homosexuality 01/2012; 59(1):90-113. · 0.47 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Despite the judicial and cultural progress that has been made in Flanders (i.e., Dutch-speaking part of Belgium), lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals (LGBs) are still a stigmatized sexual minority. They are assumed to rely extensively on the support of friends to compensate for lack of familial support (i.e., family-of-choice hypothesis). In this article, we compare the support networks of 2,754 Flemish LGBs and 1,199 Flemish citizens and find convincing support for the family-of-choice hypothesis. LGBs seem to rely primarily on friends, while the average Fleming primarily relies on family for confidant support. We discuss the supportive potential captured in these friendship networks and raise the question “Are friends all a person needs?”
Journal of Applied Social Psychology 02/2011; 41(2):312 - 331. · 0.63 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study investigates how young lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals deal with coming out and how perceived personal growth may result from that experience. We considered stress-related growth as a mediator between coming-out experiences and internalized homonegativity (IH). Our sample was taken from an online survey and is comprised of 502 LGBs aged 14-30. The social environment's acceptance of an individual's sexual orientation and the individual's social identification influence stress-related growth. Several coming-out indicators influence internalized homonegativity and, although growth perception does not function as a mediator between coming out and internalized homonegativity, it has a direct effect on IH.
Journal of Homosexuality 01/2011; 58(1):117-37. · 0.47 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In this article, we examine the impact of acculturation strategies on minority stress and mental health in lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) youth in Flanders, Belgium. Building on previous identity minority studies and on the social stress model, we investigate how LGB youth acculturate within both the LGB subculture and mainstream society and how this correlates with their mental health. Our sample is taken from an online survey and represents 561 LGB youth aged 14 through 21. The four traditional acculturation strategies are represented in this population (integration, separation, marginalization, assimilation). Bisexual boys are mostly absent from separation and integration strategies; gay and lesbian youth in middle adolescence are significantly more represented in the separation strategy compared to their late adolescence counterparts. Further, our findings suggest the relevance of identification with the LGB community, especially for internalized negative attitudes toward homosexuality. LGB youth who identify with the LGB community score significantly lower on this internalized homonegativity.
Journal of Youth and Adolescence 10/2010; 39(10):1199-210. · 2.72 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This study discusses the impact of stress specific to being lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB)—measured by means of the concepts of stigma consciousness and internalized homonegativity—on the mental well-being of LGB youth. Also, the effects of positive and negative social support were considered within the model. The sample consisted of 743 LGBs less than 26 years old who were recruited during the online ZZZIP survey in Flanders, Belgium. Hierarchical regression shows that LGB-specific unsupportive social interactions have the greatest direct effect on mental well-being of LGB youth, followed respectively by stigma consciousness, internalized homonegativity, and confidant support.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology 12/2009; 40(1):153 - 166. · 0.63 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This article concentrates on the influence of determinants of mental health on a lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) population in Flanders. Our sample is drawn from the Zzzip survey, and contains 2,280 LGBs, of whom 1,565 are men and 715 are women. The traditional social stress model outlines the influence of general stressors on stress (Pearlin, 1989). Meyer (1995) has expanded Pearlin's model to include the concept of minority stress. This study focuses on aspects of personal characteristics and social structural arrangements. Our study confirms the importance of age and education as relevant determinants for mental health. Additionally, although most research establishes sex differences in depression, this study does not find significant differences in depression between men and women. In women, sexual identity is a significant determinant of depressive score, but we do not find the same in men. Finally, both general and minority stressors, especially the internal stressors, are found to have an important effect on depressive outcomes.
Journal of LGBT Health Research 01/2008; 4(4):181-94.
