Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth and young adults: social support in their own words.

Perceived social support was explored in a qualitative study of 17 gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth and young adults from a Seattle-based sexual minority youth drop-in center. The participants were interviewed in person with an open-ended question format to describe, in their own words, perceived social support they received as sexual minorities. Support was organized into four types, those fulfilling concrete, emotional, financial, or informational needs. Content analysis revealed several themes of support tailored to the specialized needs participants had as sexual minorities: locating parental figures among other gays and lesbians, parental reactions to learning of the youths' sexual orientation, the ability to reciprocate support, and finding supporters who introduced the youth to the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community. Non-family members were found to be more supportive than family members, particularly regarding informational support. Sexual minorities were perceived as more supportive than non-sexual minorities. Understanding the process and significance of acquiring a sense of community from which youth may garner continued support may present an avenue for intervention among social service providers. Additional implications for practice and research are also discussed.

Clinician's views on sexually aggressive children and their families: a theoretical exploration.

Behavioral and family characteristics of sexually aggressive children were obtained from a national convenience sample of treatment providers to gain descriptive data and to investigate the tentative use of a social learning theory model of sexual aggression of children. One hundred fifty-five professionals responded to a questionnaire of their work with a total of 287 sexually aggressive children aged 12 and under. A number of family variables may have impacted the children's sexual behavior. The average child resided in a two-parent home, and in most of these families (70%), at least one caretaker was chemically dependent; 48% have at least one parent known to have been sexually abused; and 72% of the children were sexually abused themselves (60% by a caretaker). The children with known sexual abuse histories were younger at first sign of sexual aggression than those without known sexual abuse histories. Children under 6 years of age were more likely to perceive their sexually aggressive behavior as normal than were older children. Differences based on gender of the children were not found for sexual aggression. These results suggest the potential for use of a social learning theory with sexual aggression in children. Implications for practice and suggestions for further research are discussed.