Sexual Minority Status, Anxiety–Depression, and Academic Outcomes: The Role of Campus Climate Perceptions among Italian Higher Education Students

Students from sexual minorities generally describe Higher Education contexts as unwelcoming and chilly environments. Based on the Minority Stress theory, these disparities in climate perceptions may lead sexual minority students to negative health and academic outcomes. To date, research documenting the experience of sexual minority students within European Higher Education Institutions is limited. Framed within campus climate literature, the current study aimed to expand on previous knowledge by investigating the associations between sexual minority status, students’ perceptions of campus climate and psychological (i.e., anxiety–depression), and academic outcomes (i.e., intellectual and academic success and considering leaving the university) using a self-selected sample of 868 Italian university students (17.9% sexual minority students). The results showed that sexual minority status was associated with negative perceptions of campus climate, which, in turn, were associated with higher levels of anxiety–depression symptoms, lowered academic success, and a high probability of considering leaving university. Further research is needed to investigate the experience of sexual minority students within European Higher Education contexts and to explore possible actions that could contribute to fostering a greater sense of belonging to the campus community for all students, and particularly for students from sexual minority groups

The Impact of Personal Values, Gender Stereotypes, and School Climate on Homophobic Bullying: a Multilevel Analysis

Abstract Introduction Schools are among the most homophobic social contexts, where students who do not conform to gender norms are at high risk of stigma and discrimination. Method Using a multilevel approach, the aim of the current was to examine whether adolescents' engagement in homophobic bullying behavior was associated with personal values and stereotyped victim-blaming attributions at individual level, and perceptions of school as a community and frequency of teachers' reaction to bullying incidents at classroom level. Data were collected in 2010. The sample consisted of 2718 Italian middle and high school students (53.2% females; mean age = 15.36, SD = .85) from 144 classrooms. Results Results showed that self-transcendence values reduced the risk of engaging in homophobic bullying, whereas both self-enhancement values and stereotyped victim-blaming attributions were positively associated with homophobic bullying. At classroom level, only negative perceptions of school as a community had a unique positive contribution on homophobic bullying, over and above other individual and contextual factors. Two cross-level interactions were found, indicating that self-transcendence values had a significant effect in decreasing homophobic bullying in classrooms where teacher support was perceived as low, whereas stereotyped victim-blaming attributions had a significant effect in increasing homophobic bullying in classrooms where teacher support was perceived as high. Conclusion These findings provide further support to the social-ecological perspective as a useful guiding framework for understanding the complexity of factors predicting homophobic bullying. Policy Implications Efforts should be made to develop clear anti-bullying school policies explicitly dealing with the issue of homophobic bullying

Traditional Male Role Norms and Sexual Prejudice in Sport Organizations: A Focus on Italian Sport Directors and Coaches

Despite the common belief that sport is an excellent instrument to promote social inclusion, distal minority stressors, such as homophobic slurs and insulting or degrading comments, are frequently reported in sport contexts. The aim of this contribution was to expand previous knowledge on negative attitudes toward sexual minorities (gay and lesbian people) in sport-related contexts, by examining how staff employed in organizational sport contexts scored on three different dimensions of sexual prejudice toward sexual minority athletes: open rejection (i.e., blatant prejudice), denial of visibility (i.e., negative attitudes toward the coming out), and gendering performance (i.e., gender stereotypes about sport performance and skills). Furthermore, we examined the relationship between traditional norms of masculinity and dimensions of sexual prejudice. The sample consisted of 178 Italian sport directors and coaches who were asked to complete an online survey (70 women and 108 men, mostly aged from 38 to 65 years old). A repeated-measures ANOVA revealed that participants scored higher on denial of visibility, with respect to open rejection and gendering performance, independently of gender and sport role. The structural equation model showed that endorsing traditional male role norms was significantly associated with open rejection and gendering performance, whereas no significant association was found with denial of visibility. The findings provide further evidence that sexual prejudice is prevalent in sport organizations, supporting the importance of raising awareness among sports personnel about prejudiced beliefs that may lead minority people to experience severe stress-inducing situations

Bullying Victimization: Investigating the Unique Contribution of Homophobic Bias on Adolescent Non-suicidal Self-injury and the Buffering Role of School Support

AbstractResearch on bullying victimization has expanded to specific forms of harassment based on discriminatory bias, which involve aggressive behavior targeting an individual's identity characteristics, such as sexual orientation and/or gender expression. Recent studies have documented elevated health risks associated with victimization based on homophobic bias, above and beyond general victimization. The aim of the current study was to test the unique contribution of homophobic victimization on adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and to analyze the buffering role of teachers and classmates support. Participants were 770 adolescents (55.5% females; Mage = 15.35, SD = 1.62) enrolled in Italian public schools in grade nine (N = 483) and 12 (N = 287). All measures were collected during Spring 2016 using self-reported questionnaires. Zero-inflated Poisson regression analyses suggested that homophobic victimization had a unique contribution on NSSI frequency of engagement once initiated, but not on the probability of engaging in NSSI at least once. High classmates support was negatively associated with adolescents' engagement in NSSI. Furthermore, higher levels of classmates support were associated with a lower NSSI frequency only for youth who reported low levels of homophobic victimization. In contrast, the association between classmates support and NSSI frequency was nonsignificant when youth reported high levels of homophobic victimization. No significant effects were found for teachers support. Overall, our findings underscore the need to address the serious concern of homophobic victimization within schools and the importance of promoting healthy and positive identity development in adolescence

Parenting Desire and Minority Stress in Lesbians and Gay Men: A Mediation Framework

Despite the rapid increase in lesbian and gay (LG) people who desire and decide to become parents, LG childless individuals may encounter serious obstacles in the parenthood process, such as minority stress. Notwithstanding, the psychological processes by which prejudice events might affect the desire to become parents are still understudied. As an extension of the minority stress theory, the psychological mediation framework sheds light on these psychological processes, as it encompasses a more clinical view of stress. Within this framework, the current study aimed at assessing the role of prejudice events in affecting parenting desire in 290 childless Italian LG individuals (120 lesbians and 170 gay men), as well as the role of internalized heterosexism and sexual orientation concealment in mediating the relationship between prejudice events and parenting desire. The results suggest that only in lesbians prejudice events were negatively associated with parenting desire, and that sexual orientation concealment and internalized heterosexism were also negatively associated with parenting desire. Furthermore, sexual orientation concealment, and not internalized heterosexism, mediated the relationship between prejudice events and parenting desire in lesbians, but not gay men. The findings have important implications for clinical practice

Pre-service teachers’ approaches to gender-nonconforming children in preschool and primary school: Clinical and educational implications

Corrective approaches taken by teachers towards gender nonconformity in childhood may increase the gender pressure that children feel, negatively affecting well-being and development. This study was aimed at assessing whether the approaches of 305 pre-service preschool and primary school teachers towards gender nonconformity in childhood are influenced by sexist and homophobic attitudes and feelings. The results indicated that the majority of the sample would adopt a supportive and affirmative approach towards gender nonconformity in childhood. Notwithstanding, the results also showed that sexism influenced the likelihood of adopting corrective approaches only to gender-nonconforming primary school children, whilst homophobia was positively associated with adoption of a corrective approach to gender nonconformity in both preschool and primary school children. Suggestions for educational and clinical practice are discussed

Homophobia and transphobia in a sample of Movement Sciences students: Implications for physical education teachers and coaches

Gender and sexual stereotypes and prejudices are pervasive in sport contexts and used to preserve male superiority, relegating what is not masculine to a lower status. These stereotypes and biases are firmly rooted in sport also because they are constantly renewed and reinforced by athletic trainers, who may teach, along with sports practice, the underpinning heteronormative ideologies and values as well. The current study was aimed at exploring knowledge, opinions, and attitudes on gender and sexual diversity in sport among 181 Movement Sciences university students compared to 169 university students attending Psychology, Medicine, and Sociology. Participants answered questions related to gender and sexual diversity, homophobia, and transphobia and data were analyzed through student’s t-tests and linear regressions. Results indicated that Movement Sciences university students had a lower level of knowledge about sexual and gender diversity, and this was associated with higher levels of homophobic and transphobic attitudes. The results suggest the need to introduce specific training in degree courses to deconstruct stereotypes and prejudices around sexual and gender diversity

The analysis of bridging constructs with hierarchical clustering methods: An application to identity

When analyzing psychometric surveys, some design and sample size limitations challenge existing approaches. Hierarchical clustering, with its graphics (heat maps, dendrograms, means plots), provides a nonparametric method for analyzing factorially-designed survey data, and small samples data. In the present study, we demonstrated the advantages of using hierarchical clustering (HC) for the analysis of non-higher-order measures, comparing the results of HC against those of exploratory factor analysis. As a factorially-designed survey, we used the Identity Labels and Life Contexts Questionnaire (ILLCQ), a novel measure to assess identity as a bridging construct for the intersection of identity domains and life contexts. Results suggest that, when used to validate factorially-designed measures, HC and its graphics are more stable and consistent compared to EFA

Minority Stress and Mental Health in Italian Bisexual People

Bisexual people are a strongly stigmatized population experiencing health disparities caused by social stigmatization. The predominant framework helping to understand these health disparities and the impact of stigma on mental health of social groups belonging to a sexual minority identity constitutes the minority stress theory. In Italy, studies assessing this model in bisexual populations are very limited. Within this framework, the current study aimed at assessing in 381 Italian bisexual individuals (62 men and 319 women) the effects of anti-bisexual discrimination, proximal stressors (i.e., anticipated binegativity, internalized binegativity, and outness), and resilience on psychological distress. The results suggested that only anti-bisexual discrimination and internalized binegativity were positively associated with psychological distress, and that resilience was negatively associated with mental health issues. Furthermore, the results suggested that internalized binegativity mediated the relationship between anti-bisexual discrimination and mental health problems. No moderating effect of resilience was found. This is the first study to have thoroughly applied minority stress in Italian bisexual people, providing Italian clinicians and researchers with an outline of the associations between minority stress, stigma, resilience, and psychological distress within this population

Il Bilancio di Genere dell’Ateneo federiciano: dal rapporto di genere all’istituzionalizzazione del processo

[Italiano]:Le Università, in quanto enti di formazione e di ricerca, sono tenute a mettere in atto azioni e politiche volte a garantire la parità di genere e a rimuovere gli ostacoli che impediscono la piena realizzazione personale e professionale di uomini e donne. A tale scopo il Bilancio di Genere è lo strumento d’elezione per perseguire gli obiettivi di parità. Ma più che di un documento, si tratta di un vero e proprio articolato processo che richiede un significativo coinvolgimento della governance di Ateneo, attraverso un percorso di istituzionalizzazione dell’approccio alle questioni di genere. Il volume presenta gli esiti del secondo bilancio di genere della Federico II di Napoli, redatto secondo le Linee Guida elaborate dalla Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane. Oltre all’analisi di contesto, che consente di evidenziare i punti di forza e gli elementi di criticità dell’Ateneo federiciano rispetto alla parità di genere, il documento illustra il livello di integrazione della prospettiva di genere nei documenti strategici di Ateneo, la rete di organismi preposti alle tematiche di genere e il repertorio delle azioni messe in atto nel quinquennio precedente. L’analisi di genere degli impegni economico-finanziari, realizzata a partire dalla riclassificazione del bilancio, ha consentito inoltre di esplorare nel dettaglio le risorse espressamente destinate agli obiettivi di parità, identificando gli ambiti in cui è necessario investire maggiormente. Il documento include inoltre una prima analisi in ottica di genere dei questionari di rilevazione delle opinioni degli studenti e delle studentesse, che può essere adoperata come utile strumento per fornire spunti per la definizione di azioni positive destinate alla popolazione studentesca. Il quadro che emerge dall’analisi proposta è quello di un Ateneo che ha intrapreso un serio percorso di istituzionalizzazione dell’intero ciclo del Bilancio di Genere, attestato dall’impegno nella promozione di processi culturali ed organizzativi inclusivi volti a perseguire concretamente gli obiettivi di uguaglianza e di parità nella formazione, nella ricerca e nel lavoro. ./[English]:Universities, as training and research institutions, are required to implement actions and policies aimed at ensuring gender equality and at removing obstacles that prevent the full personal and professional fulfilment of men and women. To this end, the Gender Responsive Budgeting is the fundamental tool to pursue the objectives of equality. But more than a document, it is an articulated process that requires a significant involvement of the governance of the University, through a path of institutionalization of the approach to the gender issues. The volume presents the results of the second gender report of the University Federico II of Naples, drawn up according to the Conference of Rectors of Italian Universities Guidelines. In addition to the context analysis, which allows to highlight strengths and critical issues of the University with respect to gender equality, the document illustrates the level of integration of the gender perspective in the University's strategic documents, the network of bodies responsible for gender issues and the repertoire of actions implemented in the previous five years. The gender analysis of economic and financial commitments, carried out through the reclassification of the budget, has also made it possible to explore in detail the resources expressly allocated to the equality objectives, identifying the areas in which greatest investments are needed. The document also includes a preliminary gender analysis of student opinion questionnaires, which can be used as a useful tool to provide insights into the definition of positive actions for the student population. The picture that emerges from the proposed analysis is of a University that has embarked on a serious path of institutionalization of the gender budget process, attested by the commitment to promote inclusive cultural and organizational processes aimed at concretely pursuing equality objectives in training, research and work