LGBTQ Rumination, Anxiety, Depression, and Community Connection During Trump’s Presidency

Historically, feelings of community connection have been linked to decreases in negative mental health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals. However, scholarship has consistently focused this research on lesbian women and gay men, without acknowledging the potential nuances within the LGBTQ community. The present study assessed 250 sexual and gender minority individuals’ perceptions of their own feelings of rumination and connection to the LGBTQ community as well as the mental health outcomes of anxiety and depression during the Trump administration. A moderation analysis using the PROCESS macro assessed the impact that connection to community had on the relationship between sexual orientation rumination and anxiety and depression during the Trump administration. Results indicate that within the overall sample, having a stronger connection to community was associated with more negative mental health outcomes. However, results also indicate that the closer an individual felt to the LGBTQ community, the more they acknowledged rumination. Discussion focuses on how mental health providers can work to help LGBTQ clients build community, interrupt ruminative processes, and facilitate lower psychological distress in order to enhance psychological health and wellness

“Latinos Have a Stronger Attachment to the Family”: Latinx Fathers’ Acceptance of Their Sexual Minority Children

Parental acceptance is critical to the well-being of sexual minority youth, yet little research has been conducted with fathers, or with Latinx parents of sexual minorities. Understanding Latinx fathers’ cultural context and how it operates to facilitate or challenge acceptance of their sexual minority child could contribute new knowledge regarding Latinx culture, Latinx families, and intersectionality of identities to enrich clinical work and future research. This manuscript reports on a phenomenological study of a United States (U.S.) sample of Latinx fathers with a gay and/or lesbian child. Qualitative analysis yielded five main themes: (a) cultural values facilitating acceptance, (b) cultural values interfering with acceptance, (c) specific behaviors facilitating acceptance, (d) validation of intersectionality, and (e) benefits of acceptance. Fathers were involved in the lives of their sexual minority children and placed a priority on their membership in the family above cultural prescriptions of sexual identity, yet were open about the struggle inherent in their children’s sexual identity. Fathers’ love, investment, and struggle paid off in the form of strong bonds. Findings provide important context to promote practitioners’ cultural competence, provide potential implications for cultural adaptations, and suggest areas for future research exploring the intersectionality of ethnicity and sexual identity

Gender & Sex in Methods and Measurement - Tool 2: Effective Recruitment Strategies

Once we have determined who will be eligible for our research studies, we need to develop a recruitment strategy – a clear plan for identifying and reaching prospective participants, providing them with information about the study, and enrolling them into it. This tool will explore considerations to take into account when recruiting people who are marginalized and minoritized based on their genders, sexes and sexualities

Gender & Sex in Methods and Measurement - Tool 4: Asking About and Measuring Participants' Genders & Sexes

This tool helps researchers understand whether, when and how to ask participants about their genders & sexes. There is no single, correct way to measure people’s genders and sexes, in part because these terms have multiple meanings. This tool serves as a guide to walk researchers through some common approaches to gender and sex measurement with a focus on intentionality, precision and harm reduction

Gender & Sex in Methods and Measurement - Tool 3: Sampling Plans and Data Analyses

When we recruit participants to our research studies, they become a part of our sample – the group of people we will collect data from, or who we will generate data with, to answer our research questions or test our hypotheses. There are several points to consider about sampling in relationship to gender, sex, and sexuality. Here, we offer questions for researchers to ask themselves, issues to carefully consider, and some illustrative example situations

Gender & Sex in Methods and Measurement - Tool 1: Determining and Communicating Eligibility

As part of research, we develop guidelines about who can and who cannot participate in our studies based on shared characteristics called eligibility criteria or inclusionary criteria. This tool is focused on determining and communicating eligibility criteria in ways that are attentive to the lives of people of marginalized and minoritized sexes and genders, which includes but is not limited to intersex, trans, nonbinary and Two-Spirit people

Gender & Sex in Methods and Measurement - Tool 5: Methodological Responsiveness Across Time

Would you like your research to be responsive to ever-changing understandings of how to measure gender/sex/sexuality variables? As the research landscape changes, this tool serves as a guide for attending to inadequate measures used in the past and trying to plan and design better research in the future. It cover topics like accounting for shifts in participant identity and reframing research foci in light of new information

Gender & Sex in Methods and Measurement - Tool 6: Working with Pre-Existing, Secondary and Older Data

Researchers aren’t always working with primary data, they often work with pre-existing, secondary and older data. Sometimes, this means that the data being used was not collected in a way that aligns with recommended practices for measuring gender, sex and sexuality. How should researchers deal with these issues? Tool #6 provides some strategies and tips