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Background: Adolescents today have unprecedented and uninterrupted access to news and current events through broadcast and social media. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) adolescents may be especially cognizant of media and public discourse pertaining to law and policy changes affecting the legal rights of their communities. The minority stress framework explains how sociopolitical discourse impacts mental health among sexual and gender minority youths. Objectives: This paper identifies and describes contemporary sociopolitical and legal issues that may impact LGBTQ adolescents' mental health. Methods: Authors describe the minority stress framework as applied to gender and sexual identity and explore key sociopolitical and legal topics relevant to LGBTQ adolescents, including employment; medical care bans; health insurance coverage; conversion therapy; religious exemptions in health care; housing rights; and rights in schools and school districts, including participation in sports. Results: LGBTQ youth experience rejection, prejudice, and discrimination directly through adverse legislative or administrative action and more pervasively through the dominant cultural beliefs and sociopolitical messaging that such developments manifest. Conclusion: Mental health clinicians who are aware of legal issues and sociopolitical debate pertinent to LGBTQ rights are better prepared to address their significant impact on LGBTQ adolescents' mental health.
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This article provides an executive summary of the American Psychological Association (APA)-approved Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Sexual Minority Persons (American Psychological Association, APA Task Force on Psychological Practice with Sexual Minority Persons, 2021). These Guidelines were produced at the request of the APA Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (Division 44) and the APA Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (CSOGD) who, in 2018, jointly established a new task force to revise the 2010 Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients. This article provides a summary of the conceptual foundations that influenced these Guidelines, as well as an overview of the complete Guidelines. We highlight major changes in structure and new content areas. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Homosexualidad Femenina , Minorías Sexuales y de Género , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Práctica Psicológica , Homosexualidad Femenina/psicología , Conducta Sexual/psicología , Sociedades CientíficasRESUMEN
While the majority of research on dating violence (DV) and sexual assault (SA) in college students has focused on heterosexual students, victimization rates among sexual minority students are the same or higher than that of their heterosexual counterparts. The current study sought to explore sexual minority college students' perceptions of the prevalence of DV and SA, risk and protective factors, and barriers to seeking help, using focus groups. A total of 14 sexual minority students ranging in age from 18 to 24 participated across 2 focus groups. Findings suggest the majority of the students perceived DV and SA among sexual minority individuals to be less common compared to their heterosexual counterparts and to be less common on their campus compared to other colleges and universities. Students' reflections about risk and protective factors overlapped with those previously established among heterosexuals as well as factors unique to the sexual minority community. Students identified societal, community, and psychological-level barriers related to help-seeking. We provide recommendations for practice based on the current findings (e.g., colleges could expand current educational material about DV and SA to include more recognition of these issues for sexual minority students). (PsycINFO Database Record
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Violencia de Pareja/psicología , Violencia de Pareja/estadística & datos numéricos , Violación/psicología , Minorías Sexuales y de Género/psicología , Minorías Sexuales y de Género/estadística & datos numéricos , Percepción Social , Estudiantes/psicología , Adolescente , Víctimas de Crimen/psicología , Víctimas de Crimen/estadística & datos numéricos , Cultura , Femenino , Grupos Focales , Humanos , Masculino , Prevalencia , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether a novel indicator of overall childhood adversity, incorporating number of adversities, severity, and chronicity, predicted central obesity beyond contributions of "modifiable" risk factors including psychosocial characteristics and health behaviors in a diverse sample of midlife adults. The study also examined whether the overall adversity score (number of adversities × severity × chronicity) better predicted obesity compared to cumulative adversity (number of adversities), a more traditional assessment of childhood adversity. MATERIALS/METHODS: 210 Black/African Americans and White/European Americans, mean age=45.8; ±3.3 years, were studied cross-sectionally. Regression analysis examined overall childhood adversity as a direct, non-modifiable risk factor for central obesity (waist-hip ratio) and body mass index (BMI), with and without adjustment for established adult psychosocial risk factors (education, employment, social functioning) and heath behavior risk factors (smoking, drinking, diet, exercise). RESULTS: Overall childhood adversity was an independent significant predictor of central obesity, and the relations between psychosocial and health risk factors and central obesity were not significant when overall adversity was in the model. Overall adversity was not a statistically significant predictor of BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Overall childhood adversity, incorporating severity and chronicity and cumulative scores, predicts central obesity beyond more contemporaneous risk factors often considered modifiable. This is consistent with early dysregulation of metabolic functioning. Findings can inform practitioners interested in the impact of childhood adversity and personalizing treatment approaches of obesity within high-risk populations. Prevention/intervention research is necessary to discover and address the underlying causes and impact of childhood adversity on metabolic functioning.