Meeting the Needs of LGBTQ Youth: A “Relational Assets” Approach

Abstract

Drawing primarily on three case studies, this article proposes a framework that those concerned about the welfare of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth can consider when developing, evaluating, or arguing for more effective programming: a relational assets approach. The relational assets approach merges the developmental assets framework outlined by adolescent development researchers and the voice-centered relational work of feminist psychologists. Meeting LGBTQ youths’ needs through a relational assets approach means deliberately creating opportunities for them to form authentic, affirming relationships with peers and adults. Among the “relational assets” youth in the study identified as important to their well-being were family members with whom they could discuss LGBTQ issues openly; gay-straight alliances and community-based support groups; and LGBTQ school personnel who serve as role models and mentors.

Derivados, principalmente, de tres estudios de caso, el presente artículo propone un esquema que aquellos interesados en el bienestar de la juventud lésbica, gay, bisexual, transgénero, queer y en cuestionamiento, puede considerar al desarrollar, evaluar o requerir programación más efectiva: un enfoque relacional de valores. El enfoque relacional de valores combina el esquema de valores de desarrollo diseñado por investigadores en desarrollo adolescente y el trabajo relacional, centrado en opiniones, desarrollado por psicólogas feministas. Cubrir las necesidades de la juventud LGBTC a través de un enfoque relacional de valores, significa crear, deliberadamente, oportunidades para que ellos formen relaciones auténticas y afirmativas con pares y adultos. Entre los valores relacionales que los jóvenes en el estudio identifican como importantes para su bienestar fueron: los miembros de la familia, con los cuales podían discutir abiertamente asuntos LGBTC, las alianzas hetero-homosexuales y los grupos de apoyo comunitarios y el personal escolar LGBTC que sirve como modelo a seguir y mentores.

Formulado a partir do estrudo de três casos, este artigo propõe, àquelas pessoas preocupadas com o bem-estar de jovens LGBTQ (lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, transgêneros, queer, e “questioning”), a consideração de uma estrutura (“framework”) quando do processo de desenvolvimento, avaliação, e debate por uma maior efetividade de programas implementados: uma abordagem baseada em recursos relacionais (“a relational assets approach”). Este tipo de abordagem conjuga a estrutura de recursos desenvolvimentais, como delineada por pesquisadores do desenvolvimento de adolescentes, e o trabalho relacional de psicólogas feministas. Atender às necessidades de jovens LGBTQ a partir de uma abordagem baseada em recursos relacionais implica na deliberada criação de oportunidades para que eles e elas estabeleçam relacionamentos autênticos e positivos com seus colegas e com os adultos. Neste estudo, dentre os recursos relacionais identificados como importantes para o seu bem-estar, os jovens apontam para seus familiares - com os quais poderiam discutir abertamente sobre questões LGBTQ; alianças homo-heterossexuais (“gay-straight alliances”); grupos comunitários de apoio; e (a existência de) um staff escolar LGBTQ que pudesse servir como modelo para papéis (“role-models”) e mentores.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• assets
• at-risk youth
• coming out
• family
• gay
• gender
• lesbian
• relationships
• resilience
• school
• youth

Acknowledgments

Aspects of the research profiled herein have been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the Open Gate Foundation of the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus.

Notes

1. Quotation marks added. All participant names and the names of any people or places that are mentioned in the cases are pseudonyms.

2. Parts of the introductory sections of this paper as well as the Lindsey case study are adapted from Michael Sadowski's doctoral dissertation, Aligned at the Core: Relational Connections and Disconnections in the Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Graduate School of Education).

3. When speaking of the literature in general, we use the abbreviation LGBTQ or the term “sexual minority youth.” When referring to the findings of specific research, we use the language used to describe the populations sampled in those studies.

4. Lisa Machoian and Michael Sadowski served as co-principal investigators. The other researchers involved in the study were Steve Anderson, Stephen Chow, Constance P. Scanlon, Andrea Sexton, and Travis Wright.

5. The interviews were analyzed in keeping with the Listening Guide's four steps, as outlined briefly here: 1) determination of the “plot” or story of the interview. This step is in many respects like other forms of qualitative analysis, except that a traditional coding system is not used. Instead, using extensive text-marking and memo writing, the researcher tracks her or his observation of relevant facts, dominant themes, pauses, omissions, and contradictions, as well as personal reactions to the interview (Gilligan et al., 2003). 2) close, specific examination of the participant's first-person or “I” statements. After highlighting all of the first-person statements in an interview transcript—the pronoun “I” plus the associated verb and related words—the researcher lines them up like the lines of a poem to note patterns, rhythms, and shifts in “voice” of which the participant may or may not be aware (Gilligan et al., 2003). For example, a participant's “I” statements might be clear and direct when discussing one relationship or relational context and equivocal or tentative when talking about another. 3) analysis of the “contrapuntal voices” (Brown & Gilligan, 1992, p. 26) that emerge in an interview. The notion that the human voice is made up of multiple voices in counterpoint is based on psychoanalytic theories about the “layered nature of the psyche” (Gilligan et al., 2003, p. 157). This step consists of listening for, naming, and tracking different “voices”—verbal expressions of particular attitudes, feelings, or aspects of the self—in an iterative way (Gilligan et al., 2003). These voices are given names such as “the defiant voice” or “the resigned voice.” This step is in a sense a form of coding, with the concept of voice used as a “contextualizing strategy” (Maxwell, 1996, p. 79). Like the “I statements” analysis, however, it is intended to yield sub-textual data about the participants’ experiences, beyond what s/he states explicitly. 4) examination of all three prior “listenings” and interpretation of them in the context of each other, noting where they both support and contradict one another. Working from the three marked transcripts for each interview as well as numerous memos and summaries written at various points in the analysis, the researcher then writes an overall analysis of each interview participant's relational story.

6. Italics provided throughout quoted interviews to indicate respondent's emphasis.

7. For a profile of a transgender youth who participated in this study, see Sadowski, M. (2008). “The story of Matt, transgender superhero.” In Sadowski, M. (Ed.), Adolescents at school: Perspectives on youth, identity, and education, 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.