The purpose of this study was to explore the intersection of multiple minority identities in men who have sex with men (MSM) of color, focusing on the relationship between experiences of minority stress and negative health outcomes. Specifically, this study aimed to identify how minority stress levels in MSM of color impact the following negative health outcomes: poor mental health, substance abuse, and risky sexual behavior. The role of ethnic identity belonging and religious practice as potentially moderating the relationship between minority stress and negative health outcomes was further explored. A cross-sectional online survey was utilized to test the research questions. The sample consisted of 152 participants who identified as racial/ethnic minorities and MSM between the ages of 18 and 29. Direct effects of minority stress reflected in self-reports of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) victimization, internalized homophobia, and perceived ethnic discrimination on negative health outcomes were tested using analysis software IBM SPSS. The findings revealed that greater minority stress was associated only with increased mental health problems. As hypothesized, evidence emerged that ethnic identity belonging moderated the relationship between minority stress and both mental health and substance use outcomes, suggesting that ethnic identity belonging may serve as a protective factor for MSM of color. Under conditions of high minority stress, MSM of color with greater engagement with formal religious practice were associated with the highest negative mental health outcomes, whereas lower degrees of religious practice predicted better mental health outcomes. This study identified MSM of color to be at risk for poor mental health and has highlighted the importance of ethnic identity belonging as a potential buffer against mental health and substance use issues. Further research is necessary to determine whether religiosity serves as a protective factor or risk factor for MSM of color. These findings will help researchers to better understand MSM of color and may have a potential impact on prevention and intervention efforts by identifying risk and protective factors that help to explain the aversive effects of minority stress.

It is likely that a counselor-in-training (CITs) will counsel a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) client in practice. The American Counseling Association (ACA, 2014) and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP, 2009) address ethical and training standards about counseling clients from diverse populations and multicultural counselor competence. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine master's-level CITs' perceived LGB counselor competence and potentially related and predictive factors including age, gender, religiosity, spirituality, personal relationships with LGB individuals, and having an "out" faculty or peer in the training program. This quantitative study included 105 CITs from CACREP accredited counselor education programs, surveyed from a national stratified sample, based on CACREP regions. The survey included the Sexual Orientation Counselor Competence Scale (Bidell, 2005), the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (Spreng, McKinnon, Mar, & Levine, 2009); a Religiosity Index (Statistics Canada, 2006), Spiritual Transcendence Index-Modified (Seidlitz et al., 2002), the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale-Sort Form C (Reynolds, 1982), and additional survey items to collect information on the number of personal relationships with LGB individuals (i.e., family, friends, faculty, and peers), age, gender and demographic information. Results indicated that CITs felt least competent in their skills to work with LGB clients and most competent in their attitudes towards LGB individuals. A regression analysis revealed that religiosity negatively predicts perceived LGB counselor competence and personal relationships with LGB individuals positively predicted LGB competence. Additionally, there was a significant positive relationship between having an "out" LGB peer in the training program and perceived LGB counselor competence. Implications suggest that counselor training programs increase the use of LGB themed case studies, role plays, and other classroom initiatives to help CITs meet the needs of their future LGB clients. An interesting finding in this study was the positive relationship between having an "out" LGB peer in the training program and increased LGB competence. Future research should investigate the dynamics of this relationship.

Counselors from school and community practice, counseling students, and counselor educators (N= 468) participated in this study of competence to serve lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. Participants reported high LGB-affirmative attitudes but lower knowledge and skills. School counselors reported significantly lower LGB competence than did counselors in other settings. Implications include the importance of graduate and postgraduate training to improve LGB knowledge and skills and the hope that LGB-affirmative attitudes suggest receptivity toward such growth. Consejeros que trabajan en prácticas escolares y de comunidad, estudiantes de consejería y educadores de consejería (N= 468) participaron en este estudio sobre la competencia para servir a clientes lesbianas, gays y bisexuales (LGB). Los participantes comunicaron un nivel elevado de actitudes afirmativas hacia LGB, pero menores conocimientos y habilidades. Los consejeros escolares indicaron niveles de competencia en LGB significativamente menores que los consejeros en otros escenarios. Las implicaciones incluyen la importancia de la formaciõn de estudiantes de grado y posgrado para mejorar sus conocimientos y habilidades sobre LGB y la esperanza de que las actitudes afirmativas hacia LGB sugieren receptividad hacia dicha formaciõn.

Counselors from school and community practice, counseling students, and counselor educators (N= 468) participated in this study of competence to serve lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. Participants reported high LGB-affirmative attitudes but lower knowledge and skills. School counselors reported significantly lower LGB competence than did counselors in other settings. Implications include the importance of graduate and postgraduate training to improve LGB knowledge and skills and the hope that LGB-affirmative attitudes suggest receptivity toward such growth. Consejeros que trabajan en prácticas escolares y de comunidad, estudiantes de consejería y educadores de consejería (N= 468) participaron en este estudio sobre la competencia para servir a clientes lesbianas, gays y bisexuales (LGB). Los participantes comunicaron un nivel elevado de actitudes afirmativas hacia LGB, pero menores conocimientos y habilidades. Los consejeros escolares indicaron niveles de competencia en LGB significativamente menores que los consejeros en otros escenarios. Las implicaciones incluyen la importancia de la formaciõn de estudiantes de grado y posgrado para mejorar sus conocimientos y habilidades sobre LGB y la esperanza de que las actitudes afirmativas hacia LGB sugieren receptividad hacia dicha formaciõn.

This research sought to test the notion that the non-cisgender population experiences an inordinate toll in regard to their mental well-being as a result of inaccurate or incomplete classification of their self-identified gender identity among US college students (N = 591). In accordance with the previous literature, the non-cisgender population experienced a significant increase of perceived experience of microaggressions and internalized symptoms. Contrary to expectations, there was no significance found for rates of identity distress. Previous literature did not reflect a significantly lower score of challenging the binary for Caucasians in relation to Hispanic and Asian ethnicities, as this research revealed. This research indicates that while non-cisgender persons do experience higher rates of perceived microaggressions and identity related concerns, there is a previously accounted for variance in ethnicity and cisgender identities (male and female).

In spite of the fact that discussions regarding the social inequality of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) individuals have been at the forefront of the U.S. national dialogue over the last decade, and estimates suggest that LGB employees comprise between 6 and 17 percent of the workforce (Gonsiorek & Weinrich, 1991), little is known about the experiences of these individuals at work. The limited research that exists suggests that inclusive diversity programs (e.g. gay-friendly organizational policies and practices, such as same-sex partner benefit programs), LGB employee experiences and fears of discrimination, and decisions regarding the disclosure of their sexual orientation are of central concern for LGB employees. However, at present only a small number of empirical studies have been conducted, resulting in relatively inconclusive findings. For example, research on the role of the environment at work with respect to LGB employee disclosure decisions has generated evidence that disclosure is related to both reduced and increased levels of discrimination. Explanations for these mixed findings includes evidence that the decision to disclose or not disclose one's LGB identity is driven by a multitude of factors such as individual attitudes suggesting that elements of the organizational environment may be more useful if considered a context in which LGB employees enact disclosure decisions. In addition, evidence suggests that the decision to disclose one's LGB identity is much more complex than a simple "to tell" or "not to tell" dichotomy. This complexity, theoretically and empirically captured in the concept of identity management strategies, has been argued to have detrimental effects on the well-being and productivity of LGB employees. However, as of yet there has been little research conducted to empirically investigate these claims. I propose that employee engagement, articulated by Kahn (1990) as a psychological presence in which workers are able and motivated to fully employ and express themselves physically, cognitively and emotionally at work, offers a useful framework in which to examine the potential effects of identity management. Employee engagement incorporates both the well-being of employees and the repercussions with respect to their performance, conceptually capturing the range of outcomes speculated to be related to identity management. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of identity management on LGB employee engagement. Data was collected via an online survey of a national sample of self-identified LGB employees, obtained through announcements posted on gay and lesbian news and information websites, social network websites, and occupation-related online discussion boards. Findings suggest that while aspects of Kahn's model of engagement apply to LGB employees, other configurations of the conditions of engagement may be more appropriate for these workers. Additionally, the findings indicate that in work environments perceived as less psychologically safe with respect to being lesbian, gay or bisexual, strategies of identity management used to avert disclosure of one's sexual orientation may help reduce the negative impact of non-disclosure on engagement, while integrating one's LGB identity at work, particularly in environments perceived as psychologically safe, may have positive implications for LGB employee engagement. / Ph. D.

The American Counseling Association recently adopted standards of competency for counselors working with lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients (Logan & Barret, 2005). Concurrently, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) revised standards to require social and cultural diversity competencies, including LGB counseling competency, to be interwoven throughout counselor education curriculum (CACREP, 2009). Yet the ways that counselor educators are including these initiatives are unknown. Additionally, the factors that improve counselor competency with LGB clients are also unknown. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine counselors' self-perceived competency when counseling lesbian, gay, and bisexual clients and identify variables that are related to and predictive of LGB counseling competence. The quantitative study included 479 members of a southeastern state's professional counseling association including school counselors, community-based counselors, counselor educators, and counseling students. The assessment included an Information Questionnaire to collect data regarding personal and professional background, a Religiosity Index (Lippman et al., 2005; Statistics Canada, 2006), Spiritual Transcendence Index – Modified (adapted from Seidlitz et al., 2002), the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale - Short Form C (Reynolds, 1982), and the Sexual Orientation Counselor Competency Scale (Bidell, 2005). Among results, counselors felt least competent in their skills with LGB clients, compared to knowledge and attitudes subscales. An ANOVA revealed that counselor educators perceived themselves as significantly more LGB-competent than counselors in other practice settings did. School counselors also reported significantly lower levels of LGB counseling competence than community counselors. Multiple regression analysis revealed that religiosity inversely predicted LGB competence whereas spirituality had a positive predictive relationship with LGB competence. Finally, there was a marked deficit in training experiences involving LGB issues for counselors in the sample. Implications of the findings suggest a need to increase experiential components of counselor training to strengthen counselors' skills with LGB clients, as well as improve the self-efficacy of school counselors in their work with LGB students. A unique finding to the study involved counselor spirituality as a positive predictor of LGB competence, perhaps indicating higher levels of compassion and connectedness to others despite differences; future studies should investigate this relationship further. / Ph. D.

No description available.

The present study is an exploratory analysis of associations among sexual orientation, childhood abuse, and characteristics of both early and current family environment in a sample of 80 inpatient trauma survivors. Participants were administered a background information questionnaire, Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule, the Family Environment Scale and other instruments not analyzed in the current study. Multi-type abuse was significantly associated with low expressiveness and independence and high control in the early family, but no associations emerged with current family characteristics. Results suggest that the intergenerational transmission of family organization and moral-religious orientation occurred in the entire sample, and the transmission of family conflict patterns occurred only in the L/G/B group. Overall, participants perceived improvements in their current family environments compared to their early family environments. Findings yield support for the sexual minority stress model and mixed support for the intergenerational transmission of family characteristics.

No description available.