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Sexual Orientation-Based Disparities in School and Juvenile Justice
Discipline: A Multiple Group Comparison of Contributing Factors
V. Paul Poteat and Jillian R. Scheer
Boston College
Eddie S. K. Chong
University of Maryland, College Park
There is little data on whether school discipline or juvenile justice sanctions are directed disproportion-
ately toward sexual minority youth (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning; LGBQ) compared with
heterosexual youth and even less on factors that may relate to such disparities. We tested for sexual
orientation-based disparities in school suspension and juvenile justice system involvement, and tested a
model linking students’ sexual orientation to victimization, punishable infractions (substance use,
truancy, weapon carriage on school property), and disciplinary actions. Using cross-sectional data from
the 2012 Dane County Youth Assessment, we compared 869 LGBQ youth to 869 heterosexual youth (a
comparison sample selected through propensity score matching) in Grades 9 to 12 (60.6% female; 74.7%
White). LGBQ youth were more likely to report school suspension and juvenile justice system involve-
ment than heterosexual youth. We documented minimal support for a differential behavior explanation:
sexual orientation-based differences on discipline were only weakly mediated through victimization and
punishable infractions. Instead, a multiple group comparison showed that the paths from infraction
engagement to discipline sanctions were not invariant for LGBQ and heterosexual youth: With higher
rates of infractions, the odds were greater for LGBQ youth to have experienced punitive discipline than
for heterosexual youth. Our findings underscore the need for psychologists, educators, and juvenile
justice professionals to give attention to discipline disparities faced by sexual minority youth.
Keywords: school discipline, juvenile justice, LGBQ, health disparities, discrimination
Punitive and exclusionary discipline, ranging from school sus-
pension to incarceration, are directed disproportionately toward
certain minority youth populations. For instance, there is robust
evidence for bias against racial minority youth (Gregory, Skiba, &
Noguera, 2010;Wallace, Goodkind, Wallace, & Bachman, 2008).
Students who face these forms of discipline are at greater risk for
academic consequences like school dropout (Ekstrom, Goertz,
Pollack, & Rock, 1986), and researchers have argued such disci-
pline disparities may be connected to achievement gaps (Gregory
et al., 2010). There has been little attention to discipline disparities
among sexual minority youth (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
questioning youth; LGBQ). Yet, for example, sexual minority
youth are more likely to report arrests than heterosexual youth
(Himmelstein & Brückner, 2011). Beyond documenting that dis-
parities exist, models need to show how multiple factors contribute
to these disparities. We propose a model linking sexual orientation
to victimization, punishable infractions, and in turn, school and
juvenile justice discipline. Further, we test whether the size of
associations between victimization, punishable infractions, and
disciplinary actions differ for sexual minority youth and hetero-
sexual youth.
A Model of Contributing Factors to
Discipline Experiences
We propose a model in which victimization is associated with
engagement in punishable infractions—in this case substance use,
truancy, and weapon carriage at school—and in which engaging in
these infractions is associated with suspension or involvement in
the juvenile justice system. Although these prohibited or illicit
behaviors have sometimes been labeled as “delinquency,” we
refrain from using this term because it can imply other negative
attributes to the individual. These behaviors could also be ways
that youth cope with victimization, as the peer victimization liter-
ature has shown that victimization is associated with substance
use, truancy, and self-protective strategies such as weapon carriage
(Gastic, 2008;Luk, Wang, & Simons-Morton, 2010;Simon, Dent,
& Sussman, 1997;Tharp-Taylor, Haviland, & D’Amico, 2009).
Although some of these associations are attenuated for youth with
adequate support structures or resources to engage in healthier
coping strategies, often this buffering effect is small or nonsignif-
icant, particularly for sexual minority youth (Davidson & Dema-
ray, 2007;Eisenberg & Resnick, 2006;Murdock & Bolch, 2005;
This article was published Online First July 6, 2015.
V. Paul Poteat and Jillian R. Scheer, Department of Counseling, Devel-
opmental, and Education Psychology, Boston College; Eddie S. K. Chong,
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park.
We extend our thanks to Dane County Human Services and the orga-
nizations that financially sponsored and supported the implementation of
the Dane County Youth Assessment and to Brian Koenig for his assistance
in accessing and utilizing the dataset. We also extend our gratitude to the
Research-to-Practice Collaborative in providing financial support for the
completion of this project.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to V. Paul
Poteat, Boston College, Department of Counseling, Developmental, and
Educational Psychology, Campion Hall 307, 140 Commonwealth Avenue,
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. E-mail: poteatp@bc.edu
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Journal of Educational Psychology © 2015 American Psychological Association
2016, Vol. 108, No. 2, 229–241 0022-0663/16/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000058
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