Sexual-Orientation Differences in Positive Youth Development

Background: Positive youth development (PYD) is important for the health of adolescents. Yet PYD can be hindered by victimization, which is disproportionately experienced by sexual-minority youth (SMY). Notably, sexual-orientation differences in PYD remain unexamined. Methods: We used data from 1587 girls and boys (ages 13-18 years) from Wave 6 of the 4-H Study of PYD, a study of U.S. youth sampled from schools and after-school programs. PYD was measured using the validated Five Cs model—Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, and Caring (Bowers et al., 2010). Each of the Five Cs ranged from 0-100, with higher values representing greater PYD. Sexual orientation was measured via sexual attraction: 7.1% reported having same- or both-gender sexual attractions (henceforth, SMY). Participants reported frequency of bullying victimization in the past couple months (range: 0 [never] to 4 [several times a week]). Multivariable linear regression models were used to assess the effect of bullying on sexual-orientation differences in PYD, controlling for age, gender, and race/ethnicity. Results: Compared to heterosexuals, SMY reported lower scores in Competence (beta=-4.30; p<0.01), Character (beta=-3.44; p=0.02), Connection (beta=-5.29; p<0.001), and Confidence (beta=-6.38; p<0.001). Meanwhile, SMY reported more bullying victimization than heterosexuals (beta=0.33; p<0.001). Upon adding victimization into the multivariable models of PYD, sexual-orientation differences were attenuated by 32.1% for Competence, 19.2% for Connection, and 26.0% for Confidence, suggesting that bullying victimization partly explained these sexual-orientation disparities. Conclusions: SMY have lower PYD than heterosexuals, which may be partially due to bullying victimization. Importantly, our findings can be used to inform healthy development interventions.