Examining Hope and Bullying Among Sexual and Gender Minority Students

Background

Over two-thirds of SGM students report experiencing school bullying (Kosciw et.al 2018). How should bullying be addressed to support youths in overcoming its effects? Hope theory, from positive psychology, offers a potential pathway to mitigate these effects. We explored the relationship between bullying and life-satisfaction, along with how this relationship is moderated by sexuality and hope, through two research questions: .

Does sexuality moderate the relationship between bullying and life-satisfaction?

• Does hope moderate the established relationship between bullying, sexuality, and life-satisfaction?

Sample

This study utilized a random 6% sample (n = 400) from the 2018 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey (n = 32,271) to assess the relationships between sexuality, bullying, and life satisfaction and then how hope moderates this established relationship. 23% of this sample (n=92) identified as noncisheteronormative.

Variables:

Participants took the Children’s Hope Scale (α=.82), answered five questions about bullying (α=.71), and a Likert scale agree-disagree question on life satisfaction (“I look forward to the future”). Students were asked two questions about their sexuality in addition to biological sex,. resulting in three sexuality statuses (minority sexual orientation, minority gender identity, and overall sexual and gender minority status).

Analysis and Results

Bivariate results indicated bullying was negatively correlated with life satisfaction (-.267) and hope (-.231) and positively correlated with SGM (.331), gender identity (.319), and sexual orientation (.307) statuses. Life satisfaction was negatively correlated with SGM (.-263), gender identity (-.204), and sexual orientation (-.230) statuses and positively with hope (.601). Lastly, hope was negatively correlated with SGM (-.291), gender identity (-.154), and sexual orientation (-.264). All correlations were statistically significant (p < .001).

Three moderated moderation analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between (1) bullying and life satisfaction, (2) overall SGM status, gender identity, or sexual orientation and (3) hope. .In all three models, sexuality status (SGM, orientation alone, identity alone) and hope moderating the relationship between bullying and life satisfaction, were statistically significant, with a statistically significant two-way interaction between bullying and sexuality status indicating that any of the three sexuality statuses enhanced the negative relationship. Two-way interactions between bullying and hope were significant, with hope buffering the negative relationship. In the three-way interaction, results indicated a statistically significant three-way interaction between bullying, sexuality status, and hope..

Implications

This study highlights the importance of increasing hope among SGM youth to buffer negative effects of bullying and discrimination. Practitioners should consider how to foster hope among SGM young people through effective interventions such as community organizing, which provides youths with skills that foster positive development and change systems through advocacy, support, and collective power. While community organizing among SGM youth, may be facilitated in some communities through the presence of school or community programs, these may not exist in rural or ultra-oppressive localities, (Christens & Speer, 2015). One solution for isolated SGM youth may be virtual communities that provide opportunities to promote online community among SGM groups, but digital literacy training is essential given the prevalence of cyber bullying and virtual violence (Craig et al., 2015).