From “Cultural Mismatch” to “Cross-Cultural Mobilization”: First-Generation LGBTQ+ College Students’ Experiences, Challenges, and Opportunities

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 1:45 pm - Gold 3
  In Roundtable Session: Being Queer and Trans on Campus: Leadership, Campus Policies, and Cross-Cultural Mobilization

Abstract

This mixed-methods study examines the experiences, challenges, and resilience strategies of first-generation (first-gen), LGBTQ+ college students at a mid-Atlantic R1 public university. While first-gen students increasingly enter higher education, existing scholarship primarily focuses on economic and familial challenges, often neglecting the intersection of gender, sexuality, and familial migration trajectory. Our study addresses this gap by integrating both quantitative survey data (n = 58) and qualitative insights from focus groups and semi-structured interviews (n = 8). Our findings challenge the conventional viewpoint of “cultural mismatch” and develop a new perspective, “cross-cultural mobilization,” to highlight how students actively navigate institutional and familial structures and transform barriers by mobilizing multi-sourced resources from their diverse cultural, gender, sexual, and racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Authors

• Ying-Chao Kao, Virginia Commonwealth University

• Yiwen Wei, Virginia Commonwealth University

• nicole killian, Virginia Commonwealth University