Evidence of Diverse Identities in a Large National Sample of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

• In Event: 2-150 - Emerging Sexual Identity Labels: What can Youth Tell us and Where do we go from Here?

Integrative Statement

A nuanced understanding of sexual orientation and gender identities (SOGI) of youth is necessary for valid assessment in health disparities research (IOM, 2011). Current SOGI measures do not capture the diversity of emerging identities and data examining intersecting sexual and gender identities among ethnoracial minorities are limited. Increased visibility and social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities may underscore these changes in identification and/or disclosure (Vaccaro, 2009); however, these changes may also highlight important differences in the ways that different generations think about and express their gender and sexual identities (Gates, 2011). It is critical to understand the diversity of sexual identities and the intersection of these identities with other relevant social positions like race and ethnicity.
Our study analyzed a racially diverse national sample of 17,112 sexual and gender minority youth (13-17 years) to better understand how identity labels are reported across sexual, gender, and ethnoracial minorities. Data were drawn from the 2017 LGBTQ+ National Teen Survey, a comprehensive battery of surveys to advance understanding of victimization, school experiences, health behaviors, and family relationships of LGBTQ+ adolescents from an intersectional perspective. Data were collected in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), between April and December 2017. LGBTQ+ adolescents were invited to participate in an anonymous, online, self-report survey hosted by the survey website Qualtrics.com. Participants were recruited through social media.
Youth reported 26 distinct SOGI categories; 24% of youth utilized non-traditional sexual and gender identity labels, such as pansexual and non-binary. Youth with trans identities (e.g., trans boy, trans girl, or non-binary gender) were statistically less likely than cis-gender youth to identify with established sexual identities categories and were more likely to write in their sexual identities compared to cis-gender respondents. These responses were qualitatively coded and found to represent eleven unique categories (e.g., person-centered sexual attraction; omnisexual). Moreover, these identifications varied significantly as a function of ethnoracial identity. Approximately 75.9% of multiracaial cisgender girls identified as GLBS compared to 82.8% of Black cisgender girls. Similarly, a larger percentage of black non-binary transfeminine respondents identified as GLBS (96.2%) compared to other ethnoracial groups (e.g., 52.9% and 71.5% of Asian and white non-binary transfeminine respondents, respectively). There were no statistically significant associations between ethnoracial and sexual identities (GLBS vs. emerging identities) among cisgender boys, trans boys, trans girls, or non-binary transmasculine respondents.
Results have implications for how scholars conceptualize and measure SOGI among youth. We found evidence of a growing number of new sexual and gender identities that are shared at different proportions across subgroups of SGM young people. If we are to understand the development and lived experiences of SGM populations over time and across multiple identities, it is imperative to begin collecting data that are inclusive of dynamic and intersecting identities. Improving measurement of these dynamic social identities in youth is a key and necessary step forward to improve efforts by scholars, practitioners, and policy makers to improve the quality of life for diverse populations of sexual and gender minority youth.

Authors

• Ryan J Watson, University of Connecticut
  Presenting Author

• Christopher W. Wheldon, National Cancer Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebecca M. Puhl, University of Connecticut
  Non-Presenting Author