College of Education
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Connection in the Lives of LGBTQ+ South Asians: A Phenomenological Study(2023) Pasha, Amber Maryam; Worthington, Roger L; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Connection has been found to be an important factor for LGBTQ+ wellbeing as it pertains to the relationships between stigma, discrimination, and psychological distress, and LGBTQ+ people of color in particular are known to face intersectional minority stress at high levels. This study examined the role of connection specifically for LGBTQ+ South Asians, a population which is highly underrepresented within both LGBTQ+ and South Asian literatures. Fifteen LGBTQ+ second-generation South Asian adults, aged 19-35, were interviewed about their insights regarding connection and disconnection within their own lived experience. Interview transcripts were analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and revealed common experiential themes across the group of interviewees, which reflected three distinct forms of connection participants deemed as distinctly meaningful: i) interpersonal connections and context ii) intrapersonal connection, and iii) indirect connection. Subthemes reflected unique challenges, joys, struggles, and examples of LGBTQ+ South Asian resilience in each of these life areas. Implications of these findings are discussed for counseling professionals, higher education professionals, community organizations, and others seeking to better understand and support the wellbeing of this population.Item THE BODY IMAGE CONCERNS OF SEXUAL MINORITY MEN ENCOUNTERING SEXUAL RACISM, SEXUAL FEMMEPHOBIA, & SEXUAL SIZEISM WHILE DATING ONLINE(2021) Vernay, Collin; Mohr, Jonathan J; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Though mobile dating and hook-up apps show promise for circumventing historical barriers to partnering among sexual minority men (SMM), initial evidence suggests such app use may contribute to SMM’s relatively greater level of dissatisfaction with their bodies (Breslow et al., 2019) potentially via their exposure to discrimination online (e.g., Foster-Gimbel & Engeln, 2016). The present two studies were therefore developed to empirically examine the links between online sexual discrimination and the body image concerns of SMM using cross-sectional data gathered across two online surveys. In Study 1, three stable, single-factor measures assessing experiences of sexual racism, sexual femmephobia, and sexual sizeism were developed for use with SMM using exploratory factor analysis (n = 180). Predicted associations between these and validity measures provided initial convergent and divergent validity evidence in support of their use. This resulted in the retention of three novel 9-item measures of sexual discrimination. These measures were subsequently utilized in Study 2 (n = 530) to test a series of structural equation models that integrated elements of objectification and social comparison theory. Direct and indirect effects between app use variables, sexual discrimination, the internalization of appearance ideals, body surveillance, body shame, and body dissatisfaction were tested. Following model modifications, online sexual discrimination was found to be indirectly related to body dissatisfaction among SMM. The pathways by which this occurred varied by type of discrimination examined, with sexual racism related to dissatisfaction via the internalization of muscular ideals, and sexual femmephobia and sexual sizeism via the internalization of thinness ideals. App use behaviors were directly related to the reported frequency of sexual sizeism only and were not indirectly related to body dissatisfaction. Theoretical relationships among objectification theory variables were largely supported; however, a direct negative relationship between the internalization of muscular ideals and body dissatisfaction that had not been hypothesized also emerged as significant. The moderating potential of identity characteristics (e.g., racial identity, BMI) and appearance comparisons on tested relationships were examined. Higher levels of upward comparisons were found to strengthen relationships between body surveillance, internalization of thinness ideals, and body shame; all other moderation effects tested were non-significant.Item ONLINE AND REAL LIFE COMMUNITIES OF LESBIAN, GAY, AND BISEXUAL PEOPLE: INTERNALIZED HOMONEGATIVITY, LIFE SATISFACTION, AND SEXUAL RISK TAKING(2019) Welch, James Christopher; Shin, Richard Q; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Previous research has demonstrated potential benefits provided to LGB people through affiliation with a larger LGB community (Sheets & Mohr, 2009; Halpin & Allen, 2004; Davidson et al., 2017). However, LGB people living in rural areas or who otherwise lack access to LGB communities may have difficulty accessing these benefits (De La Cruz, 2018; Oswald & Culton, 2003; Bachmann & Simon, 2014). With the advent of the digital age, humans are able to interact in new, virtual spaces that circumvent many of the difficulties associated with gathering in real-world spaces (boyd & Ellison, 2008). However, the ways humans are able to interact in virtual, online spaces remains relatively understudied. This study sought to explore potential similarities of benefits provided by real life and online communities as they relate to internalized homonegativity and life satisfaction, and to explore how sexual risk taking may be associated with affiliation with online communities in an internet recruited sample of LGB people. LGB persons’ affiliations with online communities of LGB people were not significantly related to sexual risk taking, life satisfaction, or internalized homonegativity. Affiliation with real life LGB community was significantly related to only life satisfaction. Life satisfaction was significantly related to sexual risk taking. Online and real life LGB community affiliation were significantly correlated. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.Item LGB TEACHER ORGANIZATIONS FROM 1970-1985(2019) Mayernick, Jason M; Hutt, Ethan; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation examines the activities and organization of six LGB teachers’ organizations which were active between 1970 and 1985. LGB teachers’ organizations located in California, New York City, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association are each examined in respective chapters. Each of these chapters focuses on a specific theme that is apparent throughout the histories of these groups. These themes include: professionalism, community, negotiation, and the portrayal of LGB teachers. This dissertation is an inquiry into the first time in American history when LGB people who were K-12 teachers came out in large numbers, the first time they were seen as being not heterosexual without being forced out of America’s schools, and the first time these teachers acted in groups to protect themselves and LGB students from an educational system that was openly hostile to anyone who did not appear to be heterosexual. LGB teachers were among the first LGB people to organize professional groups and they were among the first LGB people to secure commitments against discrimination from national level labor unions. Working first to protect their employment rights and later to ensure the educational rights of LGBT students, LGB teachers’ groups were at the forefront of shifting American schools toward greater inclusivity. By examining these groups through the perspectives of education, labor, and LGBT history this dissertation will argue that the relevance of these LGB teachers’ groups extends far beyond the individual experiences of LGB teachers and their schools and can be used to discuss broad expectations that Americans held, and continue to hold, for their schools and teachers.Item ‘Butch Up’ or ‘Sissy That Walk’? Testing the Potential of Gender Affirmations to Moderate Masculinity Threat in Gay Men(2018) Vernay, Collin; Shin, Richard Q; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)There is evidence to suggest heterosexual men respond to threats to their masculinity in a number of deleterious ways, but few studies have examined this relationship in sexual minority men. For this reason, the present study sought to investigate the effects of an experimentally manipulated masculinity threat on the moods, internalized heterosexism, and self-esteem of gay men, while exploring the potential for gender affirmation exercises to moderate such effects. A sample of 129 gay men were recruited and asked to engage in either a gender affirmation or control writing task, after which they were either exposed to a masculinity threat or control. Findings across conditions were nonsignificant for each of the outcome measures regardless of writing task or threat exposure. Findings were similarly nonsignificant for the interaction between these variables. These findings further complicate the limited and often inconsistent literature on gay men and masculinity.Item HETEROSEXIST HARASSMENT AND SOCIAL COGNITIVE VARIABLES AS PREDICTORS OF SEXUAL MINORITY COLLEGE STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC SATISFACTION AND PERSISTENCE INTENTIONS(2017) Morris, Taylor Robin; Lent, Robert W; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Sexual minorities face experiences of heterosexist harassment in the college environment, which may contribute to decreased academic well-being. Thus, the present study investigated whether social cognitive variables and heterosexist harassment predict sexual minority college students’ academic satisfaction and intentions to persist. The sample consisted of 731 undergraduate students who completed an online survey. Social cognitive variables were hypothesized to predict academic satisfaction, as specified by the social cognitive model of academic satisfaction, with heterosexist harassment operating as a barrier. Results suggested that the social cognitive model provided good fit to the data. Heterosexist harassment was found to be associated indirectly with academic satisfaction via perceptions of lower environmental support and it was found to negatively predict intentions to persist. Implications of the results are that heterosexism may play a role in sexual minority students’ academic development and that social cognitive career theory may offer a useful framework for interventions.Item Intersections of Gay and Bisexual Identity with Fatness(2016) Welch, Jamie C; Shin, Richard Q; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis examines the intersections of gay and bisexual identity with body size, or fatness. Gay and bisexual identity and fatness are marginalized social identities that seem to be incompatible (Bond, 2013). While a sense of collective identity with the gay and bisexual community has been shown to be a protective factor against internalized homonegativity in gay and bisexual men (Halpin & Allen, 2004), the degree to which this protective factor persists for fat people in an anti-fat environment like the gay and bisexual community (Wrench & Knapp, 2008) has not been explored. This intersection of identities and anti-fat culture seemed to suggest there might be a relationship between fatness and internalized homophobia. Fatness did not moderate the relationship between sense of belonging to the gay and bisexual community and internalized homonegativity, but a significant positive relationship was found between belongingness to the gay and bisexual community and body shame.