Mental Health and Well-Being of Sexual and Gender Minority Groups: Risk and Protective Factors

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2024) | Viewed by 2865

Special Issue Editors

Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
Interests: gender studies; gender roles; gender and development; LGBTQ parenting; sociology feminist; theory clinical; psychology; gender and science
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Guest Editor
Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
Interests: self-efficacy; young adults; psychometrics; motivational psychology; adolescent development; psychology of adolescence; psychological assessment; family studies; lifelong learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite their increasing visibility in many parts of the world, sexual and gender minorities continue to be stigmatized. Minority stress refers to stress that LGBTQ+ individuals experience because of their marginalized identity, including discrimination and prejudice or the internalization of social stigma. Negative associations between minority stress processes and mental health have been widely demonstrated. However, research has elucidated risk rather than protective factors for the well-being of this population. This focus on the association between psychopathology and sexual orientation and gender identity may inadvertently contribute to further stigmatizing LGBTQ+ individuals. In fact, sexual and gender minority individuals may share distinctive protective and positive experiences (e.g., belonging to a community or creating families of choice), which act as buffers against the deleterious effects of social stigma and promote resilience. In this Special Issue, we are looking for papers that go beyond a deficit-based approach, addressing risk and protective factors for the mental health and wellbeing of sexual and gender minority groups in different contexts (e.g., school, work, family, or geographic origin) and throughout the life cycle. The Special Issue is open to both research and review papers. Original studies using quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods are welcome.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in IJERPH.

Dr. Jorge Gato
Dr. Susana Coimbra
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • LGBTQ
  • minority stress
  • protective factors
  • risk factors
  • resilience

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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14 pages, 1482 KiB  
Systematic Review
Between Resilience and Agency: A Systematic Review of Protective Factors and Positive Experiences of LGBTQ+ Students
by Telmo Fernandes, Beatriz Alves and Jorge Gato
Healthcare 2023, 11(14), 2098; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11142098 - 23 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2532
Abstract
A negative school climate resulting from homophobic and transphobic bias and discrimination is associated with poor well-being and mental health among LGBTQ+ youth. However, protective factors and mechanisms may buffer against the impact of stigmatization. Drawing on the socio-ecological model, minority stress theory, [...] Read more.
A negative school climate resulting from homophobic and transphobic bias and discrimination is associated with poor well-being and mental health among LGBTQ+ youth. However, protective factors and mechanisms may buffer against the impact of stigmatization. Drawing on the socio-ecological model, minority stress theory, and positive youth development and agency perspectives, we carried out a systematic review of research focusing on factors that can promote the well-being of LGBTQ+ students in educational settings, outlining the primary outcomes from studies published between 2012 and 2022. The PRISMA protocol was used for this review, and 64 articles were scrutinized. The results of the thematic analysis revealed that both external factors (school-inclusive policies and extracurricular activities; social support from school, family, and the community; and school connectedness) and internal factors (psychosocial characteristics and personal agency) promote positive school experiences, such as the exploration of sexual and gender identities in a safe environment. The present findings highlight the need for inclusive school policies and strategies and individual-level interventions that target the well-being and positive mental health outcomes of sexual and gender minority students. Full article
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