“I can’t do this right now”: Social integration, significant other support, and LGB educational trajectories

ABSTRACT

Individual interviews with 22 lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) respondents indicate that social integration and significant other influence may explain this group’s educational attainment patterns. LGB respondents who were classified as Interrupters—those who paused their pursuit of a bachelor’s degree—largely reported an absence of social integration and significant other support when they inevitably encountered heterosexism and homophobia during college. On the other hand, Graduates, those who completed their postsecondary education without interruption, either had supportive significant others and strong social integration while out on campus or had delayed their coming out until after college.

Acknowledgments

I owe immeasurable thanks to my research assistant, Martin Diaz, for his help in transcribing my interviews. Thanks also to Liana Sayer, Claudia Buchmann, Cynthia Colen, the editor, and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback.

An earlier version of this work was presented at the 2014 Midwest Sociological Society conference.

Notes

¹ Some works problematize the use of the word “homophobia,” criticizing its use without a clear definition on the part of the researcher (e.g., Herek 1984; Lottes and Grollman 2010). While recognizing the use of “homophobia” as problematic, particularly because of its ambiguity across literatures and within works, research continues to use the term to refer to generalized negative feelings toward sexual minorities (Maher et al. 2009). I use the term here to refer to this generalized—and often pronounced—aversion that Pharr describes.

² Three respondents who were interviewed, but were not out while in college, are excluded from the analysis here. The forces of heterosexism and homophobia did not affect their educational trajectories as compared to the other respondents (Boatwright et al. 1996).

³ Although the research design specifically sought out persons who identified as LGB, if respondents felt they met the criterion of being an LGB person out in their everyday lives, they were included in the study. For instance, the pansexual respondent clarified that he felt he tended to identify as gay in his everyday life, particularly to those who do not know him well; however, personally, he identifies as pansexual. Similarly, the queer females felt they sufficiently met this criterion and were included as well.

⁴ Men are, generally speaking, less likely than women to have college degrees (Buchmann and DiPrete 2006), but this finding does not hold for sexual minorities. Sexual minority men outpace heterosexual men and sexual minority women in bachelor’s degree completion (Fine 2015). This sample is not stratified, though, so conclusions about the role of gender in determining sexual minority respondents’ likelihood of being an Interrupter should be avoided given these data. I note adopting a more intersectional approach in future work could sort out the effect of other social identities’ intersection with sexual identity on social integration, significant other influence, and subsequent educational attainment.

⁵ It should be noted that some respondents indicated more than one form of a lack of social integration/social support during their interviews; this is why the number of respondents indicated for each form adds up to more than eight.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for transportation to interview sites was provided by The Ohio State University Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship.

Notes on contributors

Leigh E. Fine

Leigh E. Fine is an assistant professor in the Staley School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University. His research interests include the relationship between sexuality, gender, and educational attainment; social construction and the presentation of self; leadership pedagogies; and examining linkages between queer theory, social change/social movement theories, and leadership theory. His work has appeared in American Journal of Education, Journal of Homosexuality, Journal of College Student Development, and Journal of Leadership Education.