Protective Factors for Violent Victimization of Queer High School Students

• In Event: Navigating Queer Realities: Insights from Diverse Experiences

Abstract

Multiple disciplines have recognized LGBTQIA+ (queer) individuals are victimized at higher rates than heterosexual, cisgender people. Social scientists likewise know high school youth are especially at risk of violence exposure. A population particularly vulnerable to victimization is thus found at the intersection of queer identity and high school attendance. What helps is not so established. This research seeks to fill a gap in the literature regarding experiences with violence for queer students via examination of protective factors--an important consideration not only for victimology, but also for building on emerging work in critical theory’s queer criminology. Analysis is presented of changes to the relationship between sexual identity and violent victimization when accounting for evidence-based protective factors in data from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS 2021), a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9-12. Results may help capture understanding of ways to aid in insulating queer high school students from experiencing violence. Findings and implications are discussed.

Author

• Valerie G. Womack, University of Texas at Dallas