The Vicissitudes of Homophobic Victimization in Adolescence: An Explorative Study

The impact of psycho-education on school-children's homophobic attitudes

Homophobic bullying is a major social issue, especially in the school settings. This may be particularly common in many Western countries but it appears globally. Bullying causes both short and long-term problems hence its prevention must be seen as a relevant and urgent step in educational settings. Psycho-educational programs should be promoted in order to help eliminate school-children's prejudices and bias about gay and lesbian peers, homophobic bullying. 191 school-children (n = 101 females, n = 90 males), aged 12-14 years old, attending a secondary school in Foggia (Italy) were recruited and assessed at baseline (T0) and 2 months (T1) after receiving a systematized, repeated psycho-education aimed to promote their awareness on sexual variations, and reduce homophobic prejudices and stereotypes. They were assessed for their empathy quotients, their knowledge of gender- related stereotypes, homophobic attitudes, anger, emotional regulation, before (T0) and after the intervention (T1) in a standardized manner. The psychoeducational program significantly reduced homophobia levels towards gays (-9.38%) and lesbians (-5.42%,) as well as improved emotional adjustment (+25.9%) and pro-sociality (+3.85%) among school-children (0.0486≤ all p < 0.0001). Also, a statistically significant improvement of empathy (+11.3%) and levels of state anger (+0.35%) has been significantly reported. This study reports on the benefits of a repeated, systematic, prospective psycho-educational intervention conducted in the school-setting leading to an improvement of empathy, pro-sociality, emotional regulation and a reduction of homophobic attitudes and anger among students.

Social support in schools and related outcomes for LGBTQ youth: a scoping review

Recent research has increasingly focused on positive factors and supports for LGBTQ youth. This scoping review explores existing social support for LGBTQ youth in schools through the Ecological Systems Theory to respond to the following four objectives: (1) define social support systems in schools, (2) identify current research on outcomes for LGBTQ youth, (3) identify barriers to support LGBTQ youth in schools, and (4) identify areas for future research for LGBTQ youth and social support in schools. A systematic search (Arksey and O'Malley in Int J Soc Res Methodol 8(1):19-32, 2005) between 2007 through 2021 resulted in 94 articles. This review gave rise to an organizational framework to consolidate various systems of social support for LGBTQ youth in schools. Social support consisted of seven social support systems (family, curriculum, family, peers, school policies, GSAs and programs, and school climate) that are positively associated with the promotion of positive socioemotional, behavioural, and educational outcomes for LGBTQ youth. Though the literature has been clear surrounding the risks associated with LGBTQ youth, this scoping review provides a positive outlook on LGBTQ youth's school experiences and how these systems of social support allow for LGBTQ youth to act as active participants to foster a positive school climate and sense of safety.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44217-022-00016-9.