Sources of Social Support and Mental Health Among LGB Youth.

Ryan J Watson, Arnold H Grossman, Stephen T Russell
Author Information
  1. Ryan J Watson: University of Connecticut, Storrs, USA.
  2. Arnold H Grossman: New York University, New York City, USA.
  3. Stephen T Russell: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA.

Abstract

Disparities in psychosocial adjustment have been identified for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth, yet research that explores multiple sources of social support among subgroups of LGB youth is sparse. Social support theory is used as a framework to analyze the ways that different sources of support might promote better psychosocial adjustment for LGB youth. Data from a diverse sample among LGB youth ( = 835) were used to understand how social support from a close friend, teachers, classmates, and parents might be differently associated with depression and self-esteem. We found that parent support and its importance to the participant were consistently related to higher self-esteem and lower depression for all youth, except for lesbians for whom no forms of social support were associated with self-esteem. Teacher and classmate support influenced some subgroups more than others. These results provide parents, clinicians, and schools a roadmap to assist youth navigate supports.

Keywords

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Grants

  1. P2C HD042849/NICHD NIH HHS
  2. R01 MH091212/NIMH NIH HHS

Word Cloud

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