Research exploring the health, wellness, and safety concerns of sexual minority youth (original) (raw)

The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 2009

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the critical risk factors that negatively impact the health, safety, personal wellness, and educational achievement of sexual minority youth. Contemporary and landmark studies of the key stressors faced by sexual minority are reviewed with an emphasis on Canadian data. Sexual minority youth often encounter multiple risk factors, have fewer protective factors (such as a sense of connectedness to school and family), and experience more bullying, harassment, alienation, suicide ideation, and substance abuse than do their heterosexual peers. Over a decade of research evidence clearly indicates that educational institutions have a legal, ethical, and professional responsibility to respond appropriately to the urgent health, safety, and educational needs of sexual minority youth (Grace & Wells, 2005, 2009; Wells, 2008). A failure to respond by important adults in the lives of such youth, places vulnerable youth at significant risk and denies them access to important protective factors in their lives. Acknowledgments: This article was prepared with financial assistance from a multi-year grant provided to the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services by the Edmonton Community Foundation, City of Edmonton, and United Way. This grant is designed to support community outreach and advocacy work to support sexual minority youth in the Edmonton region. Information in this research brief was shared with the Alberta Government's Department of Education to assist in its work to support the creation of safe, caring, and inclusive educational environments for all students in the province of Alberta. The Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services (iSMSS) is an interdisciplinary "hub" for scholarly work in sexual minority studies. Housed in the Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, the Institute's mission is to help enhance possibilities for ground-breaking research, policy development, education, community outreach, and service provision focused on sexual minorities and their issues and concerns. www.iSMSS.ualberta.ca

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