The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #58756

Stephen T. Russell, PhD, 4-H Center for Youth Development, University of California, Davis, Department of Human and Community Development, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, 530-752-7069, strussell@ucdavis.edu

This panel will bring together several complementary studies of adolescent sexual orientation and school safety. First, S. Russell will present national data from the Add Health study, comparing sexual minority and heterosexual adolescents with regard to their experiences of school safety (“Adolescent sexual orientation and school safety: Evidence from Add Health”). Second, K. Heck and S. Russell will present data from the California Health Kids Survey to document experiences of sexual orientation-based harassment in California middle- and high schools (“Harassment of California high school students due to perceived sexual orientation”). Third, C. Ryan will report on the influences on school performance, connections, and safety of family support in the lives of White and Latino sexual minority youth in the Bay Area of California (“Sexual orientation and school safety for youth and families”). Finally, J. Schindel will present data from a qualitative study of high school-based Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in northern California. This study examines the ways that high school GSAs provide a context for support and affirmation in high schools (“Youth helping youth: Students creating safe schools for LGBT youth”). Discussants will provide program and policy perspectives on LGBT youth and school safety, and will include K. Bell, from GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network), Carolyn Laub from GSA Network, and Christopher Calhoun, from the ACLU.

Learning Objectives:

• As a result of this session participants will:
• --Understand methodological and theoretical challenges in studies of adolescent sexual orientation
• --Understand recent findings from research on sexual orientation and school safety at the national, state, and community level
• --Understand issues relevant to education and youth program practice and policy

Keywords: Adolescent Health, Gay

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.