Acknowledgement and support matter: A brief report on gender identity and sexual orientation at a large, urban university

ABSTRACT

Objective. To examine reporting trends of students identifying as LGBTQIA+ following changes made to the ACHA-NCHA-II survey about gender identity and sexual orientation.

Methods. Data were analyzed from two sources for the purpose of triangulation: the ACHA-NCHA-II 2016 survey specific to our university and an electronic audience response survey.

Participants. Primary analyses included first-year students from the ACHA-NCHA-II data (N = 158; spring 2016) and the audience response survey (N = 1,452; August 2016).

Results. Five percent of students did not identify as cis-gender and 21% did not identify as straight/heterosexual. The sexual orientation trend was confirmed by the audience response survey.

Conclusions. The percentage of students identifying as LGBTQIA+ increased nationally between the ACHA-NCHA-II 2014 and 2016 survey samples, a trend which was confirmed using an independent audience response survey. This information has implications for university programming and inclusivity efforts nationwide.

KEYWORDS:

• College students
• gender identity
• sexual orientation
• LGBTQIA+
• gender and sexual minorities

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge all students who participated in the ACHA-NCHA-II and welcome week data collection. Special thanks are also extended to Kaylin Tingle, MSW and Amelia Liadis, MEd, from the Wellness Resource Center for providing invaluable feedback on earlier drafts of this brief report and to Mary Hoban, PhD, from the American College Health Assessment for encouraging us to pursue this scientific inquiry.

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the National Institutes of Health, (T32MH020030).