A Study of Bullying, Social Acceptance, and Social Adjustment Among Selected LGBTQIA Adolescents

The current study assessed the connection that existed between the social acceptance and peer bullying of 76 high school students that identified as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA). The study was conducted within ten separate high schools in Southeastern North Carolina. The study considered all the experiences of peer bullying and social acceptance within the context of both family and peer groups. There was an identification of 76 adolescents in the study survey that was conducted in the ten high schools. The LBGTQ adolescents were then matched to a sample comparison of their heterosexual peers within the same locations. The LBGTQ adolescents expressed a higher rate of depression symptoms and behaviors compared to those of their heterosexual peers within the same age group. They also reported a greater number of incidents of sexual harassment, not having a close relationship with their parents, having fewer personal relationships with friends, and more bullying in comparison with their heterosexual peers. The study noted that there was an insignificant difference between the LGBTQ adolescents. Generally, both bullying and social acceptance mediated the connection existing between psychosocial symptoms and sexual orientation. Among the LGBTQ adolescents’, the connection that existed between externalizing and social acceptance was arbitrated by the experiences of peer bullying. The findings demonstrate and emphasize the factors of protection and the contextual risks that related to the sexual orientation of the non-heterosexuals in accordance with both behavioral and emotional problems within the population.