Exploring LGBTQ Youth Identities: Sexual Identity Terms Endorsed by Youth Currently and Over Time

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

Integrative Statement

Identity development in adolescence is marked by exploration of different identity terms and related activities (Glover et al, 2009; Kroger, 2007). As visibility about diverse sexual orientation identities has grown, there is developing interest in the different sexual identity terms currently being endorsed by youth. Some new research demonstrates various ways youth are identifying beyond straight and gay, including identifying as pansexual, queer, and bisexual (Bosse & Chiodo, 2016; JWT Intelligence, 2015). The current study builds on this literature, exploring ways in which youth’s endorsement of different identity labels has changed over time, and how these youth express that identity in their social world: 1) by disclosing their identity to others, and 2) through LGBTQ-related activism, as political commitment in adolescence has been identified as an important aspect of identity development (Erikson, 1968). Thus, we examine differences in both outness and activism across identity groups.
Using data from nine installments of a national biennial survey examining the school experiences of LGBTQ secondary school students (N=66,920, mean age=16.1), we examined the sexual orientation identities that this population used over time from 2001 to 2017. In each survey, students were provided a list of sexual identities (e.g., "gay," "lesbian," "bisexual") and asked to choose all the terms that applied to them. Data from the most recent survey sample (2017, N=19,912) describe youth identifying as gay/lesbian, bisexual, queer, pansexual, and questioning.
Results of a series of multiple analyses of variance (MANOVA) demonstrated significant changes over time in endorsement of specific identities, indicating decreases over time in the percentages of sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth adopting the terms "gay" or "lesbian," and increases in the term "pansexual" and "queer." Use of the term "bisexual" increased in the earlier years of the survey, but trended downward since 2007 (with a recent increase in 2017). For the most part, the use of "questioning" has remained stable across years (see Figure 1).
Data from the most recent survey sample (N=19,912) were used to further examine characteristics of those who endorsed specific sexual identities. Of this sample, 43.3% identified as gay/lesbian, 28.6% as bisexual, 21.4% as pansexual, 4.3% as queer, and 2.5% as questioning. To explore how youth socially expressed their identities, we examined differences in outness and activism by sexual identity using MANCOVAs, controlling for age and gender. Gay/lesbian youth were more out to their peers than other sexual minority youth, but did not differ from queer and pansexual youth in outness to parents. Regarding activism, queer youth participated in LGBTQ-related activism (e.g., Day of Silence or Gay-Straight Alliance attendance) and other types of activism (e.g., boycotts, contacting politicians, and attending protests) at higher rates than other sexual minority youth.
Further, this paper will discuss the implications of the complexity of identity labels for research and practice with sexual minority youth, and discuss how social context may impact identity adoption. More research is needed to explore how youth come to choose these identity labels and how these identities shape, and are shaped by, their school experiences.

Authors

• Caitlin Clark, GLSEN
  Presenting Author

• Joseph Kosciw, GLSEN
  Non-Presenting Author