A Multi-Methods Study of How Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Questioning Youth Interact On-Line and Offline to Manage Psychological Health and Well-Being
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Abstract
Background: Discrimination, bullying and homophobia have a serious impact on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) young people’s mental health, reflected in increased rates of suicide and self-harm. This might be because discrimination interferes with how people are able to construct and enact coherent, desired, identities. Recent research suggests that the internet can provide LGBTQ young people with a safer space to connect with others, to find support and negotiate their identities. But we know very little about how this works to help. How does interaction online help LGBTQ young people create resilience, construct identities and manage their psychological wellbeing? How are online and offline identities constructed and managed for wellbeing? In a climate that focuses on LGBTQ young people’s vulnerability and suicidality, this research takes a positive approach to answering these questions which can help LGBTQ and other young people learn from each other to maximise wellbeing.
Objectives: To answer the question, ‘how do LGBTQ young people (aged 13 to 25) who use the internet construct and manage their psychological health and wellbeing?’ To gain an understanding of how young people experience and manage their online presences within the context of their lives as a whole. To learn more about the resources that LGBTQ young people have created for themselves and the resources they access in order to highlight gaps in current understanding, highlight assets, improve support and make policy recommendations.
Methods: This multi-method, ethnographic, study uses arts-based and multisensory ethnography as an approach suited to online spaces, able to capture diverse fragments of everyday life and the presentation and construction of identities. It also offers participants a flexible range of ways to take part, both online and offline. It allows for the gathering of non-verbal data that engages with the ways that online identities are embodied and how these spaces are experienced, in ways that are not easy to articulate. Young people, aged 13-25, who self-identify as LGBTQ are invited to participate through online advertising and through youth groups. They choose the level at which they like to participate from brief online survey to diary-construction.
Results and Conclusion: The analytical framework uses phenomenology and affect theory to conceptualise subjectivity, identity and how discourses of gender, identity and psychological health are constructed and experienced without medicalising emotion or reifying sexuality or gender categories. This paper will focus on contextualising online presence/experiences in the maintenance of identity, wellbeing and resilience and the importance of online and offline social interaction. Research is in progress: data collection is underway at present and emerging findings will be presented at the conference.
Objectives: To answer the question, ‘how do LGBTQ young people (aged 13 to 25) who use the internet construct and manage their psychological health and wellbeing?’ To gain an understanding of how young people experience and manage their online presences within the context of their lives as a whole. To learn more about the resources that LGBTQ young people have created for themselves and the resources they access in order to highlight gaps in current understanding, highlight assets, improve support and make policy recommendations.
Methods: This multi-method, ethnographic, study uses arts-based and multisensory ethnography as an approach suited to online spaces, able to capture diverse fragments of everyday life and the presentation and construction of identities. It also offers participants a flexible range of ways to take part, both online and offline. It allows for the gathering of non-verbal data that engages with the ways that online identities are embodied and how these spaces are experienced, in ways that are not easy to articulate. Young people, aged 13-25, who self-identify as LGBTQ are invited to participate through online advertising and through youth groups. They choose the level at which they like to participate from brief online survey to diary-construction.
Results and Conclusion: The analytical framework uses phenomenology and affect theory to conceptualise subjectivity, identity and how discourses of gender, identity and psychological health are constructed and experienced without medicalising emotion or reifying sexuality or gender categories. This paper will focus on contextualising online presence/experiences in the maintenance of identity, wellbeing and resilience and the importance of online and offline social interaction. Research is in progress: data collection is underway at present and emerging findings will be presented at the conference.
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