The present study addresses three objectives: 1) to explore the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) persons who are coming in the United States as students and coming out about their sexual orientation, 2) to explore the cultural narratives that emerge in their disclosure process, and 3) to generate ways to support LGBQ international students. Research on the disclosure process for LGBQ persons have been comprised largely of white, middle-class individuals and families. This narrative inquiry broadens our understanding of how LGBQ persons from different cultures define and experience the coming-out process, particularly in the context of moving to a different country. Twelve LGBQ international students shared their coming in, coming out stories through interviews, journals, a timeline, online forum, and picture. Narrative analysis of their stories consisted of three methods: thematic, structural, and dialogic. These findings provide directions for future research, clinical practitioners, educators, and student affairs personnel working with international students. / Ph. D. / Imagine moving to a different culture. You arrive in a foreign land, where you are grouped into a racial category that represents many countries and cultures. You struggle to stay in contact with family and friends from your native country while trying to build connections and find support in your new home. On top of that, your sexual identity is non-heterosexual, and the social climate and level of acceptance toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) people in your new home is vastly different from your country-of-origin. This is a sliver of the experiences that LGBQ persons may face when moving to a different country. The present project explores the stories of LGBQ international students in the United States, in hopes of generating ways to support them. Twelve LGBQ international students shared their coming in, coming out stories. This broadens our understanding of how cultures shapes the coming-out process, particularly in the context of moving to a different country. These findings provide directions for future research, clinical practitioners, educators, and student affairs personnel working with international students.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78303 |
| Date | 30 June 2017 |
| Creators | Nguyen, Hoa N. |
| Contributors | Human Development, Piercy, Fred P., Grafsky, Erika L., Zvonkovic, Anisa, Lambert-Shute, Jennifer Jane |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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