Fill in the Blank: Deconstructing Postsecondary Outcomes of Queer and Trans Youth of Color

• In Event: Exploring Queer and Trans Student Secondary Experiences Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009

Abstract

Purpose
Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (QT BIPOC) high school students have continued to endure oppressive and harsh educational and social experiences that have impacted their post-secondary outcomes. This presentation aims to understand how QTBIPOC’s high school experiences and their attitudes toward attending college. Demystifying this phenomenon is essential to ensuring that QTBIPOC students receive the necessary support and resources in school to have equitable academic outcomes.

We ask the following research question:
Are there differences between QT BIPOC, QT white, cisgender heterosexual (cishet) BIPOC, and cishet white students’ experiences in high school and post-secondary college enrollment?

Theoretical Frameworks
This study is grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Leung et al., 2022; Shedd, 2015) and Crenshaw's (1989) theory of intersectionality (Bonner, 2014). The ecological systems theory argues that in order to study a child’s development, we must examine the child’s environment(s)(Shedd, 2015). QTBIPOC students' experience in high school is centered around white heteronormative practices, which can impact their sense of belonging (Truong et al., 2020). Crenshaw's (1989) theory of intersectionality asserts that Black women are impacted by the interaction of race and gender. Furthermore, Reid (2022) expanded the idea of literature by explaining that Black LGBTQ+ youth do not have the ability to vacillate between their racial and LGBTQ+ identities; consequently, they have experiences marked by both racism and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.

Methods and Results
A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to compare QT BIPOC, QT white, cisgender heterosexual (cishet) BIPOC, and cishet white students in the HSLS:09 for six outcomes: Ever attended college, never attended college for financial and academic reasons, sense of belonging, school engagement, and school climate. Out of the 25,210 students that participated, about 10% identified as sexual minoritized and about 2% as gender minoritized individuals. To determine the nature of the differences between the four groups, Tukey post-hoc tests were used. Table 1 shows descriptive statistics.
Results highlight statistically significant differences between QT BIPOC, QT white, cishet BIPOC, and cishet white students' for all the outcomes analyzed (Table 2). Post-hoc test results show that QT BIPOC students scored lowest in 4/5 outcomes and highest in never attending college for academic reasons. Notably, cishet BIPOC students scored just a little higher than QT BIPOC students for ever attending college, never attending for academic reasons, school engagement, and school climate, but lower than their QT and cishet white counterparts. We emphasize here that race plays a role in the nature of the differences in most cases, with QT and/or BIPOC students doubly impacted.


Scholarly Significance
This paper illustrates the need for secondary schools to promote and practice better inclusion policies to support QTBIPOC students. School climate is critical for positive outcomes for QTBIPOC. With the re-emergence of anti-black and anti-LGBTQ+ policies and practices, schools have not been a safe place for QTBIPOC youth. Understanding how the school environment impacts the QTBIPOC youth’s post-secondary outcomes is essential to analyze so that new systems and structures can be created to combat their plight.

Authors

• William Shelton, Graduate Center - CUNY

• Madison Fitzgerald-Russell, University of Iowa

• Arsene Frederic, Howard University

• Mario I Suárez, Utah State University