Disparities in Health and Academics of Sexual Minorities in Urban Middle Schools

描述(由申请人提供)：女同性恋者、男同性恋者、双性恋者和质疑(LGBQ)青少年的自杀是一个公共卫生问题(Haas等人，2010年)。最近的研究表明，学校和同龄人中的反LGB偏见会导致LGBQ青少年的健康风险(Russell，Kosciw，Horn，Saewyc，2010)。本项目侧重于城市、种族多样化的LGBQ中学青少年--一个脆弱但未得到充分研究的人群--的经历，并试图找出促成这一群体幸福感风险和复原力的因素。第一项研究使用偏见图(Cuddy，Fiske&Glick，2007)和发展友谊文献(Hallinan&Williams，1989)来系统地评估群体间态度、同伴关系和学校氛围，并测试它们对LGBQ和异性恋学生的心理和学业结果的影响。调查数据将从洛杉矶联合学区几所大型城市学校的800名7年级和8年级的亚裔、黑人、拉丁裔和白人男孩和女孩中收集。参与者将完成评估他们对不同种族LGBQ个人的刻板印象、偏见和行为倾向、他们的同种族和跨种族和跨性别取向的友谊、在学校感受到的脆弱性、学校种族多样性以及学生的心理社会健康和学业成就的测量。预计积极的群体间态度和学校氛围、更好的跨种族/性取向友谊和更大的种族多样性将有助于提高不同种族的LGBQ和异性恋青少年的幸福感和学业成就。第二项研究使用了一个成熟的实验范式来测试观察基于LGB的受害行为是否会影响异性恋青少年的幸福感。在7年级和8年级注册的拉丁裔异性恋男孩(n=120)和拉丁裔女孩(n=120)将参加一个名为Cyberball(Williams，Cheung，&Choi，2000)的虚拟投球电脑游戏，在游戏中，他们看到一个拉丁裔/女同性恋者、男同性恋者或双性恋者学生被排除在游戏中或被包括在内。每个参与者将完成心理幸福感(即国家自尊)、对拉丁裔女同性恋者、男同性恋者和双性恋者学生的刻板印象、偏见和行为倾向的测量；友谊(例如，LGB朋友的数量)，以及参与者将性少数族裔拉丁裔视为群体的程度。预计目睹被视为小组成员的LGB青年被排除在外，将对异性恋观察员的福祉产生负面影响。在这两个研究中，将使用聚类分析、层次线性建模和结构方程多组分析相结合的方法来检验假设。从这项研究中获得的知识可以为适合在我国城市学校实施的预防和干预计划提供参考。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning (LGBQ) adolescents is a public health concern (Haas, et al., 2010). Recent research demonstrates that anti-LGB prejudice at school and among peers contributes to health risks for LGBQ teens (Russell, Kosciw, Horn, Saewyc, 2010).This project focuses on the experiences of urban, ethnically diverse LGBQ middle school adolescents - a vulnerable yet understudied population - and seeks to identify factors that contribute to risk and resilience for well-being an academic achievement in this group. The first study uses the BIAS MAP (Cuddy, Fiske & Glick, 2007) and draws on the developmental friendship literature (Hallinan & Williams, 1989) to systematically assess intergroup attitudes, peer relations, and school climate and test their impact on psychological and academic outcomes for both LGBQ and heterosexual students. Survey data will be collected from 800 Asian, Black, Latino and White boys and girls enrolled in 7th and 8th grades at several large urban schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Participants will complete measures assessing their stereotypes, prejudices and behavioral tendencies toward various ethnic LGBQ individuals, their same - and cross-ethnic and cross-sexual orientation friendships, perceived vulnerability at school, and school ethnic diversity as well as students' psychosocial well-being and academic achievement. It is expected that positive intergroup attitudes and school climate, better cross ethnic/sexual orientation friendships and greater ethnic diversity will contribute to enhanced well- being and academic achievement of both LGBQ and heterosexual adolescents of various ethnic groups. The second study employs a well-established experimental paradigm to test whether observing LGB-based victimization impacts the well-being of heterosexual adolescents. Heterosexual Latino boys (n= 120) and Latina girls (n = 120) enrolled in 7th and 8th grades will take part in a virtual ball-tossing computer game called Cyberball (Williams, Cheung, & Choi, 2000) during which they witness a Latino/a lesbian, gay or bisexual student excluded or included in the game. Each participant will complete measures of psychological well-being (i.e., state self-esteem), stereotypes, prejudices and behavioral tendencies toward Latino lesbian, gay and bisexual students; friendships (e.g., number of LGB friends), and the degree to which the participant perceives sexual minority Latinos as in-group. It is expected that witnessing the exclusion of LGB youth perceived to be an in-group member will negatively affect the well-being of the heterosexual observer. A combination of cluster analysis, hierarchical linear modeling and SEM multiple group analysis will be used to test the hypotheses in both studies. Knowledge gained from this program of research can inform prevention and intervention programs suited for implementation in our nation's urban schools.