TY - JOUR
T1 - Parent Support Matters for the Educational Success of Sexual Minorities
AU - Watson, Ryan J.
AU - Barnett, Melissa A.
AU - Russell, Stephen T.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge support for this research from a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship awarded to the first author: Grant No. DGE-1143953, and from the Fitch Nesbitt Endowment (Norton School, University of Arizona) in support of the third author. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www. cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2016/3/14
Y1 - 2016/3/14
N2 - Recent research has documented disparities in academic experiences and achievement for sexual minorities. Two important correlates of well-being for all youths are their relationships with family members and experiences at schools. We used nationally representative data to investigate whether the association between perceived maternal and parental support (defined as warm, firm, and accepting parental bonds) and educational outcomes differs for sexual minority compared to heterosexual youths. The sample consisted of 12,064 participants. Results indicated that parent support was significantly associated with grade point average (GPA), school belonging, and school troubles for both sexual minority and heterosexual participants, but the magnitudes differed. In addition, we found a two-way interaction between sexual minority status and parental support in association with school belonging, indicating that for sexual minority youths, low parental support was associated with particularly low levels of school belonging compared to heterosexual youths. This project highlights the importance of family support as a contributor for healthy development.
AB - Recent research has documented disparities in academic experiences and achievement for sexual minorities. Two important correlates of well-being for all youths are their relationships with family members and experiences at schools. We used nationally representative data to investigate whether the association between perceived maternal and parental support (defined as warm, firm, and accepting parental bonds) and educational outcomes differs for sexual minority compared to heterosexual youths. The sample consisted of 12,064 participants. Results indicated that parent support was significantly associated with grade point average (GPA), school belonging, and school troubles for both sexual minority and heterosexual participants, but the magnitudes differed. In addition, we found a two-way interaction between sexual minority status and parental support in association with school belonging, indicating that for sexual minority youths, low parental support was associated with particularly low levels of school belonging compared to heterosexual youths. This project highlights the importance of family support as a contributor for healthy development.
KW - GLBT family
KW - educational achievement
KW - parent support
KW - school belonging
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959509045&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84959509045&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1550428X.2015.1028694
DO - 10.1080/1550428X.2015.1028694
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84959509045
SN - 1550-428X
VL - 12
SP - 188
EP - 202
JO - Journal of GLBT Family Studies
JF - Journal of GLBT Family Studies
IS - 2
ER -