At the intersection of sexual orientation and gender identity: variations in emotional distress and bullying experience in a large population-based sample of U.S. adolescents

Abstract

This study examines the intersection of sexual and gender identities among adolescents, including the prevalence of these groups and rates of emotional distress and bullying victimization. Data come from a large population-based sample; two measures of sexual orientation and gender identity create eight identity groups. Youth who report identifying both as lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer/questioning (LGBQ) and as transgender/gender diverse (TGD) had significantly higher levels of two measures of emotional distress and four measures of bullying victimization than those who report only identifying as LGBQ non-TGD or straight TGD. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords:

• I ntersection
• mental health
• bullying

Acknowledgments

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Minnesota Student Survey data were provided by public school students in Minnesota via local public school districts and are managed by the Minnesota Student Survey Interagency Team.

Notes on contributors

Marla E. Eisenberg, Sc.D., M.P.H. is an Associate Professor and Director of Research at the University of Minnesota's Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health. Her research focuses on social influences on the health behaviors and well-being of adolescents and young adults.

Amy L. Gower, Ph.D., is a research associate in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health at the University of Minnesota. Her research examines the ways schools and communities can promote healthy youth development, particularly around bullying and for LGBTQ youth.

G. Nic Rider, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Their research focuses on minority stressors and protective factors, health disparities, and health care utilization for individuals with multiple marginalized identities.

Barbara J. McMorris, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. McMorris’ research agenda focuses on the prevention of youth risk behaviors, including substance use, sexual risk taking, violence, bullying and school drop-out, especially among vulnerable young people.

Eli Coleman, Ph.D. is professor and director of the Program in Human Sexuality, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Minnesota Medical School. He holds the endowed academic chair in sexual health. His research focuses compulsive sexual behavior, transgender health and sexual health education for health care providers.

Notes

1 We use the acronym LGBQ to refer to those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, pansexual, questioning, unsure, or other labels describing a sexual orientation that is not exclusively heterosexual and the term transgender/gender diverse to refer to those who identify as transgender, genderqueer, genderfluid, gender expansive, gender diverse, gender creative, gender non-conforming, non-binary, or other labels describing an internal sense of gender that is different from their sex assigned at birth (Kuper, Nussbaum, & Mustanski, 2012; Russell, Clarke, & Clary, 2009) .

2 This estimate differs slightly from the 2.7% reported in our previous work (Eisenberg, Gower, McMorris et al., 2017). The discrepancy is due to exclusion of a small number of TGD participants who were missing data on sexual orientation.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R21HD088757.