Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Apr. 22, 2010). Advisor: Douglas Delahanty. Keywords: LGB youth; trauma; PTSD; depression; self-criticism; internalized homophobia. Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-77).

Sexual minority adolescents are at higher risk for a variety of difficulties, including traditional victimization and depression. Also, cybervictimization has been associated with higher rates of depression. However, little attention has been paid to investigating the relations between sexual orientation, cybervictimization, and depressive symptoms, especially within the developmental stage of late adolescence. In fact, very little cybervictimization research has been conducted within this age group due to an assumption that cyberbullying is a problem only seen in middle school and high school. One aim of the current study was to determine whether sexual minority older adolescents are at greater risk for cybervictimization than their heterosexual counterparts. Another aim was to identify the specific sexual orientation and gender categories that were associated with the highest levels of cybervictimization. The study also was intended to examine whether current cybervictimization predicts depressive symptoms above and beyond other predictors, such as current traditional victimization and perceptions of high school cybervictimization. Another goal was to determine whether current cybervictimization interacts with these variables to predict depressive symptoms. The final aim of the study was to investigate whether the relation between cybervictimization and depressive symptoms differed between sexual minority and heterosexual participants. The findings from this study demonstrate that older sexual minority individuals, particularly those who identify as homosexual, are at increased risk for cybervictimization. Also, current traditional victimization and cybervictimization interacted to predict depressive symptoms. The importance of current cybervictimization also was highlighted by the finding that the highest levels of depression were associated with high levels of current cybervictimization, with or without high levels of high school cybervictimization. Finally, the relation between cybervictimization and depressive symptoms did not differ significantly between sexual minority and heterosexual participants. This study examined pressing questions that were previously unanswered in the literature, and the implications for future research, cyberbullying interventions, and societal awareness are vast. This study should be used as a foundation for further investigation on both cyberbullying in late adolescence and cyberbullying among sexual minority individuals. Also, the findings from this study should be applied to the development of cyberbullying interventions for older adolescents with special consideration given to the applicability to the sexual minority population.

abstract: Empirical research has supported that higher behavioral engagement with and higher affective pride toward the LGBTQ+ community are associated with greater psychological well-being among Latinx sexual minorities (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, etc.). Less is known, however, about predictors of sexual identity development among Latinx sexual minorities. This study explores how heterosexist discrimination may be related to the exploration and affirmation of one’s sexual minority identity. Conversely, conflicts in allegiance (CIA), that is, the experience of perceived incompatibility Latinx sexual minorities may experience between their racial-ethnic and sexual minority identities, was examined as a potential negative correlate. This study applies a rejection-identification model and identity development theories to test the associations between heterosexist discrimination, conflicts in allegiances and sexual identity constructs (LGBTQ+ behavioral engagement and affective pride). Among a sample of 366 Latinx sexual minorities, this study found both heterosexist discrimination and conflicts in allegiances were significant predictors of LGBTQ+ behavioral engagement and affective pride. Additionally, data supported two mediational models that tested relations between heterosexist discrimination, LGBTQ+ behavioral engagement, and affective pride. This study contributes to our understanding of sexual minority identity among Latinx individuals. These findings can assist helping professionals and community centers in promoting psychological well-being among Latinx sexual minority individuals by informing identity-affirming practices and interventions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Counseling Psychology 2018

Rural populations are traditionally understudied, especially as it is concerned with the experiences of sexual minority women and the experiences of internalized stigma (negative attitudes towards the self) are often related to poor health outcomes within the LGBTQ+ community (Meyer, 2003). This relationship has been found to be mediated by rumination, suppression, and social isolation, which has been generalized to cognitive, coping, and social mediators (Hatzenbuehler, Nolen-Hoeksema, & Dovidio 2009). The current study examines the indirect effect of internalized stigma on self-rated health and quality of life through cognitive mediators (self-esteem, self-compassion, and feelings of guilt and shame) in sexual minority women located in northeast Tennessee (N=134). Participants completed the following scales: Perceived Self Stigma Scale (Mickelson, 2001), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Self-Compassion Scale- Short Form (Raes, Pommier, Neff, & Van Gucht, 2011), Personal Feelings Questionnaire (Harder & Zalma, 1990), WHOQOL-BREF (World Health Organization, 1998), and the SF-36v2 (Health Survey, 1996). Results suggested that only self-esteem mediated the relationship between internalized stigma and both self-rated health and quality of life. Analyses were conducted via the data software SPSS. Internalized stigma was found to predict self-esteem (b = -0.153, p =.023). In turn, self-esteem was then predictive of self-rated health (b = .399, p =.043) and quality of life (b = 0.438, p = .007). A mediational analysis was conducted using a PROCESS (Hayes, 2014) macro to test the hypothesis that self-esteem acts as a mediator between internalized stigma and quality of life and self-rated health. There was an indirect effect of internalized stigma on quality of life (effect = -.067, 95% CI (-.157, -.016)) and self-rated health (effect = -.061, 95% CI (-.151, -.013)) through self-esteem. All other regression and mediational analyses with self-compassion, shame, and guilt were nonsignificant. With these findings, clinical therapy may be improved for sexual minority women by focusing on internalized stigma as an underlying cause of lower self-esteem and poor health. If the focus of therapy becomes internalized stigma, based on our findings, reduction of internalized stigma could increase self-esteem and in turn increase self-rated health and quality of life in sexual minority women.

Depression and anxiety are among the most prevalent forms of mental illness in the U.S, affecting an estimated 18% of the population. Recent studies have shown that sexual minority women may undergo sexual experiences that affect their risk of anxiety and depression. However, prior studies of this association are sparse and have largely been conducted among sexual majorities and have yet to examine differences between vulnerable sexual orientation groups. Therefore, we evaluated the relationship between sexual experiences (i.e., sexual assertiveness, sexual self-efficacy, and outness) and anxiety and depression among young sexual minority women in a cross-sectional study (N=328) from the Young Sexual Minority Women’s Experiences with Sexual Violence study, 2017-2018. We used multivariable linear regression models to examine the relationship between sexual experiences and anxiety and depression while adjusting for important risk factors. Overall, findings indicate that sexual minority women who reported low sexual experiences reported more anxiety and depression. Bisexual/pansexual/fluid women had higher sexual assertiveness, sexual self-efficacy, anxiety, and depression scores and lower outness scores compared to lesbian women. Among both lesbian and bisexual/pansexual/fluid individuals, those who had higher sexual assertiveness scores also had lower anxiety scores Interventions aiming to improve mental health of sexual minority women should utilize the promotion of sexual experiences.

Sexual and gender minorities experience disparities in mental and physical health often attributed to structural discrimination through policies that do not promote equal rights and interpersonal–intrapersonal processes. Social issues research on stigma and intergroup relations can explicate the intervening processes that explain health. In this introduction to the special issue entitled Translating Stigma and Intergroup Relations Research to Explain and Reduce Sexual and Gender Minority Health Disparities, we call social issues researchers to focus their work on sexual and gender minority stigma and intergroup relations processes in order to understand and ultimately reduce health disparities.

Sexual and gender minorities experience disparities in mental and physical health often attributed to structural discrimination through policies that do not promote equal rights and interpersonal–intrapersonal processes. Social issues research on stigma and intergroup relations can explicate the intervening processes that explain health. In this introduction to the special issue entitled Translating Stigma and Intergroup Relations Research to Explain and Reduce Sexual and Gender Minority Health Disparities, we call social issues researchers to focus their work on sexual and gender minority stigma and intergroup relations processes in order to understand and ultimately reduce health disparities.

Micro country-level research on why Ghana continues to hold on to a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between consenting adults of the same sex is critical to understanding the unique phenomena of homophobia and violations of sexual minority rights in Ghana. Ghana has not decriminalised the offence of ‘unnatural carnal knowledge’, a law that targets homosexual sex, which it inherited from British colonial administrators in 1892, despite calls by international human rights bodies and Ghana’s own admission that such laws fuel violations of sexual minority rights. The fundamental barriers to the decriminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual acts between adults in private in Ghana are religion, culture, and politics. Through the lens of decolonisation, Sankofa, as well as purposive and transformative constitutionalism theories, the thesis argues that the current religious, cultural and governance architecture in Ghana are colonial legacies that subjugated indigenous religious, cultural, and governmental institutions and replaced them for more than a century with Victorian-era structures and institutions of the colonial administrators. In order to overcome this colonial-era law, structures, and barriers to decriminalisation, which many Ghanaians unknowingly or mischievously claim as their own, there is a need for the decolonisation of colonial-era thinking and structures. The 1992 Constitution of Ghana provides for a Bill of Rights, an independent judiciary, and the Supreme Court of Ghana, whose jurisprudence upholds the rights of individuals to non-discrimination, dignity, privacy, and association. Apart from religion, culture, and politics, a major obstacle to decriminalising sodomy law in Ghana is the legal culture and socio-political environment in Ghana. The judiciary is part of a society that abhors homosexuality and proclaims that because most Ghanaians oppose same-sex relationships, Ghana should not amend its Constitution to embrace sexual minority rights. The Supreme Court has declared laws that are inconsistent with constitutional rights to non-discrimination, association, dignity, and privacy as unconstitutional. Although the Constitution of Ghana does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, the Supreme Court can overcome the barriers of religion and culture by extending its jurisprudence on the right to non-discrimination, association, dignity, and privacy to include sexual minority rights. Through a broad, purposive, and transformative approach to interpreting the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court can draw a line between Ghana’s colonial past and the present era of constitutionalism and constitutional rights by declaring sodomy law as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court may also overcome the negative limitations of the current Ghanaian legal culture and socio-political pressure by looking to pre-colonial Ghanaian cultures that embraced same-sex sexuality for guidance. Like the proverbial Sankofa bird, the Supreme Court may, besides looking back to pre-colonial Ghanaian cultures, also fly forward to adopt decisions of foreign domestic and international courts of this modern era to endorse constitutional morality over majority morality in a Ghanaian secular state. / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / University of Pretoria, Postgraduate Merit Award (Academic Associate) / Centre for Human Rights / LLD / Unrestricted

Several authors have determined concepts related to the inclusion of social problems in advertising. One of them is brand-cause fit, which refers to the condition in which a brand and a social problem—with which the target audience feels identified—are conceptually united in a single communication proposal. The purpose of this study was to analyze how university students perceive the brand-cause fit as a communication strategy in Sprite's “You Are Not Alone” campaign. A qualitative methodology was adopted and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 university students of which 12 belonged to the LGBT community and 12 were heterosexual. The participants positively perceived the brand-cause fit used as an advertising strategy in Sprite's campaign. Not only do they value the fact that brands include social issues and problems in their communication, but they also claim that it is the brands’ responsibility to do so. / Revisión por pares

Introduction: Structural stigma, or stigma at a society or policy level, has a negative impact on the mental and physical health of sexual and gender minorities (SGMs). In particular, political leaders and the policies they enact can limit the resources and safety of SGM. Following the 2016 presidential election, there was fear of an increase in structural stigma in the USA. However, research on the specifics of anticipated structural stigma is lacking. Methods: Using data from 187 participants who completed an online study conducted from 2016 to 2017, we used inductive thematic coding to examine anticipated structural stigma. Results: We found four themes: (1) anticipated negative consequences of specific anti-SGM political figures, (2) concerns about the loss of existing SGM rights, (3) fear of new anti-SGM policies, and (4) fears of vulnerability related to limited existing protections. Conclusion: We discuss how these themes tie into each other, map them onto existing structural stigma work, and use laws and policies that have been passed or proposed in the past 4 years to describe how these anticipated stigmas have become enacted.