Steven Hobaica

The Trevor Project

Sexual minority youth (SMY, i.e., lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals between the ages of 13–17) report increased rates of mental health concerns in comparison with heterosexual youth. However, there is a shortage of empirically supported treatments for SMY, as commonly administered interventions are understudied for minority communities. A syst...

Aim The purpose of this study was to explore differences in the clinical psychology PhD program admissions experience (i.e., interviewing and decision‐making) by race/ethnicity and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) identity. Methods Participants were 803 students (24% racial/ethnic minority; 19% LGBTQ) enrolled in US clinical...

Few studies have examined the mental health of clinical psychology doctoral students, a unique group given their education and training in psychopathology, assessment, and intervention. Students (N = 912) completed an online survey assessing demographics, mental health, mental healthcare utilization, and barriers to care during graduate school. Nea...

Labeling oneself as a sexual minority and sharing that identity with others often represents a significant and intentional process for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, as most individuals are assumed to be heterosexual. However, little previous research has explored the effects of sexual identity labels on perceptions of LGB individual...

The current study utilized the Washington State Healthy Youth Survey to explore the relations among school district political attitudes, bullying experiences, and mental health outcomes, particularly for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) students. Although bullying was associated with greater psychological distress (i.e., anxi...

Introdution: Few studies examine the financial burden of clinical psychology doctoral programs and its impact on achievements, stress, and mental health. Objectives: The current study sought to better understand students' financial stress and debt, and how financial stress may impact their mental health and the attainment of personal and profess...

Selecting and sharing a sexual identity label can be a significant and stressful process for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people. We previously found that using explicit (e.g. Mark is gay) and implicit (e.g. Mark is attracted to men) sexual identity labels mostly led to positive perceptions (e.g. more proud, likeable, resilient), in a sample of...

The current study utilized the 2018 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey to explore the relations among school district political attitudes, bullying experiences, and mental health outcomes, particularly for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) students. Although bullying was associated with greater psychological distress (i.e.,...

The current study utilized the 2018 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey to explore the relations among school district political attitudes, bullying experiences, and mental health outcomes, particularly for LGBTQ+ students. Although bullying was associated with greater psychological distress (i.e., anxiety, depression, and suicidality) for all st...

Minority stress research has demonstrated negative health outcomes in sexual minority populations. However, the influence of sex education on these outcomes remains unclear. In the current study, the Perceived Inclusivity of Sex Education Scale (PISES) was developed and administered to sexual minorities (N = 263) to assess the associations between...

Sex education can be heteronormative (e.g., assuming all students are heterosexual), which marginalizes sexual minorities (e.g., lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals) by not exploring their identities and safe sex practices. However, research has rarely explored the experiences of transgender (trans) individuals in sex education, even though much...

We designed a resilience intervention in the form of a self-help workbook. It was made to address the challenges of being an undocumented student. The workbook includes modules on increasing social support, hope for the future, and emotional openness. In an initial feasibility study, participants reported that the workbook contains valuable informa...

The efficacy of sex education has been questioned, as students participate in high rates of unsafe sex after completion. Without exploring various sexual minority (SM) identities (e.g., gay, lesbian, and bisexual) and forms of sex, sex education may be especially unhelpful for SMs by perpetuating the heteronormative (i.e., assuming heterosexuality...