(DOWNLOAD) "Parental Acceptance and Illegal Drug Use Among Gay, Lesbian, And Bisexual Adolescents: Results from a National Survey (Report)" by Social Work # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Parental Acceptance and Illegal Drug Use Among Gay, Lesbian, And Bisexual Adolescents: Results from a National Survey (Report)
- Author : Social Work
- Release Date : January 01, 2010
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 237 KB
Description
Gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) adolescents face many of the same developmental challenges as do heterosexual adolescents, but they must also deal with a stigmatized identity. In one of the more important studies on minority stress in gay men, Meyer (1995) demonstrated the destructive mental health effects of chronic stress related to stigmatization. He showed that internalized homophobia, expectations of rejection, and experiences with discrimination and violence are significantly associated with feelings of demoralization and irrational guilt as well as suicidal ideation. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (Killen-Harvey, 2006), in the case of gay youths the effects are considered traumatic, affecting gay youths' ability to cope and leading to feelings of fear and helplessness in their daily lives. Sexual minority youths experience and are exposed to trauma in multiple ways. They are Exposure to stress is considered a major factor behind substance use and the main cause of relapse (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2006). Among adolescents, sexual minorities are particularly at risk for drug use due to multiple life stressors. The sometimes severe distress experienced by sexual minority youths came to the attention of researchers, educators, and practitioners following a 1989 report suggesting that gay and lesbian youths were two to three times more likely than their heterosexual peers to attempt suicide (Gibson, 1989). Indeed, a closer examination of the lives of sexual minority youths shows that they face greater stress and have less access to social supports than do their heterosexual peers (Hart & Heimberg, 2001), are subjected to harassment in their schools and other forms of victimization on the basis of their sexual orientation (Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, 2000; Kosciw & Diaz, 2006), and have higher rates than do heterosexual youths of high school dropout, physical illness, and family discord (Lock & Steiner, 1999). As the literature discussed later shows, the response of gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents to the exacerbated stress associated with being members of a sexual minority often involves substance use. In the face of such pressures, are there factors that enhance their resiliency? Based on a large national sample, this study investigates whether family support associated with coming out and access to social networks in the queer (inclusive term for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning, or GLBTQ) community help decrease drug use in sexual minority youths by buffering the negative effects of life stress.