Victimization, Social Attitude, and Internalized Homonegativity among Latinx Sexual Minority Youth at School

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Sex, Gender

Abstract

According to minority stress theory, distal and proximal minority stressors have an adverse impact on sexual minority populations, and such negative associations may be mitigated by protective factors. However, much of the research on experiences of sexual orientation-based victimization, one of most common distal stressors among sexual minority youth (SMY), has focused its association with mental health outcomes, such as depression or self-esteem (Hatchel et al., 2018; Pachankis, Sullivan, Feinstein, & Newcomb, 2018). Limited studies have examined how these sexual minority-specific stressors are internalized (i.e., internalized homonegativity) to influence health related outcomes (i.e., psychiatric symptoms; Burks et al., 2018). Furthermore, despite the empirical evidence that Latinx SMY may experience and react to minority specific stressors differently in diverse social contexts (i.e., family, peer, school) (Toomey, Huynh, Jones, Lee, & Revels-Macalinao, 2017), intersections across social contexts have been overlooked in the literature. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine variation in the contribution of sexual orientation-based victimization to internalized homonegativity among Latinx SMY in and across contexts and school levels.
We conducted a secondary data analysis of an existing dataset that included 238 Latinx SMY aged 16 to 24 (M = 18.98, SD = 2.31). Three-way interactions involving sexual orientation-based victimization, one type of social attitudes (family, peer, and school adult), and school level (high school and college) on internalized homonegativity were examined across Latinx SMY social contexts (family, peer, and school adult). Simple slopes were examined for significant interactions.
As shown in Table 1, a significant three-way interaction involving victimization, family attitude, and school level for internalized homonegativity was found (model 2). The three-way interaction indicated that the association between sexual orientation-based victimization and internalized homonegativity is stronger for high school Latinx SMY with more supportive family attitudes compared to youth with less supportive family attitudes. However, the associations were reversed for college Latinx SMY. A significant two-way interaction of sexual orientation-based victimization and peer attitude on internalized homonegativity was found (model 2), such that the association between sexual orientation-based victimization and internalized homonegativity was stronger for Latinx SMY with more supportive peer attitude to sexual minority community compared to that with less supportive peer attitude. Additional post-hoc analyses were conducted to assess the contribution of discordance between family and peer attitudes on internalized homonegativity (model 5). A three-way interaction was found (see Figure 1) such that when Latinx SMY in high school perceive more supportive peer attitude versus family attitude, the association between victimization and internalized homonegativity becomes weaker compared to youths who perceive more supportive family attitude. However, in college, such associations were reversed. Overall, family and peer attitudes contributed to internalization of sexual orientation-based victimization both independently and interactively for Latinx SMY, but the impact of supportive family attitude appears to become more salient than peer attitude in college. Implications for future research and intervention will be discussed.  

Authors

• Zhenqiang Zhao, Fordham University
  Presenting Author

• Russell B Toomey, University of Arizona
  Non-Presenting Author

• Karla Anhalt, Kent State University
  Non-Presenting Author