Reflecting resiliency: openness about sexual orientation and/or gender identity and its relationship to well-being and educational outcomes for LGBT students.

For lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, coming out (i.e., disclosure of LGBT identity to others) can be a key developmental milestone, one that is associated with better psychological well-being. However, this greater visibility may come with increased risk of peer victimization. Being out, therefore, may reflect resilience and may unfold differently depending on ecological context as some spaces may be more or less supportive of LGBT youth than others. This article explores a model of risk and resilience for outness among LGBT youth, including whether it varies by community context. We tested our hypothesized model with a national dataset of 7,816 LGBT secondary school students using multi-group structural equation modeling. Consistent with our hypotheses, outness was related to higher victimization but also to higher self-esteem and lower depression. Greater victimization was related to negative academic outcomes directly and indirectly via diminished well-being. The increases in victimization associated with outness were larger for rural youth, and benefits to well-being partly compensated for their lower well-being overall. This article suggests that being out reflects resilience in the face of higher risk of victimization, in addition to promoting well-being in other ways. Nonetheless, contextual factors influence how this model operates among LGBT youth.

Online social support as a buffer against online and offline peer and sexual victimization among U.S. LGBT and non-LGBT youth.

In today's technology-infused world, we need to better understand relationships youth form with friends online, how they compare to relationships formed in-person, and whether these online relationships confer protective benefits. This is particularly important from the perspective of peer victimization, given that social support in-person appears to reduce the odds of victimization in-person. To address this literature gap, data from a sample of 5,542 U.S. adolescents, collected online between August 2010 and January 2011, were analyzed. The main variables of interest were: online and in-person peer victimization (including generalized and bullying forms) and online and in-person sexual victimization (including generalized and sexual harassment forms). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth were more likely than non-LGBT youth to have online friends and to appraise these friends as better than their in-person friends at providing emotional support. Peer victimization and unwanted sexual experiences were more commonly reported by LGBT than non-LGBT youth. Perceived quality of social support, either online or in-person, did little to attenuate the relative odds of victimization for LGBT youth. For all youth, in-person social support was associated with reduced odds of bully victimization (online and in-person) and sexual harassment (in-person), but was unrelated to the other outcomes of interest. Online social support did not reduce the odds of any type of victimization assessed. Together, these findings suggest that online friends can be an important source of social support, particularly for LGBT youth. Nonetheless, in-person social support appears to be more protective against victimization, suggesting that one is not a replacement for the other.

Psychosocial studies of migration and community: introduction to the special issue

Introducing the special issue on psychosocial studies of migration and community, we briefly reflect on the global increase in, and issues related to, both international and domestic migration, particularly from rural areas of less developed countries, which has fueled rapid urbanization and intercultural tensions in both post-industrial and developing countries. Topics covered in the issue are summarized, including an Italian study of the emotional impact of discrimination against immigrant adolescents; acculturation, integration and adaptation of Muslim immigrant youth in New Zealand; perceptions of human trafficking in Moldova; Chinese migrant workers’ social networks, life satisfaction and political participation; physician brain drain from sub-Saharan Africa; and a critical analysis of the oppressive and liberating impact of organizations on immigrants, multiculturalism, and social justice. The issue concludes with commentary articles by four leading international scholars of migration and community. The breadth of topics helps to address wide-ranging gaps in the literature, but more psychological and social research must connect ecologically across multiple levels and to cultural, political, economic, and environmental studies of migration and community (AU)

Para presentar este monográfico sobre estudios psicosociales de las migraciones y comunidad, hacemos una breve reflexión sobre cómo la era global ha supuesto un aumento de las migraciones y un cambio en los procesos asociados. Se resalta su carácter internacional y nacional—especialmente en las zonas rurales en los países menos desarrollados. Estas migraciones han impulsado una rápida urbanización y han sido el origen de múltiples tensiones interculturales tanto en países post-industrializados como en los que están en vías de desarrollo. El monográfico incluye un estudio sobre el impacto emocional de la discriminación contra los adolescentes inmigrantes en Italia; otro sobre la aculturación, integración y adaptación de los jóvenes musulmanes inmigrantes en Nueva Zelanda; un análisis de las percepciones sobre la trata de seres humanos en Moldavia; otro que aborda las redes sociales, satisfacción con la vida y participación política de los inmigrantes chinos trabajadores, incluye un estudio sobre la fuga de cerebros de los médicos del África subsahariana; y un análisis crítico de los efectos opresores y liberadores de las organizaciones de inmigrantes en las comunidades de asentamiento. El monográfico concluye con los comentarios de cuatro destacados especialistas internacionales sobre la psicología de las migraciones y la comunidad. La amplitud de los temas abordados ofrece un escenario para reflexionar sobre las lagunas existentes en la literatura, poniendo de manifiesto la necesidad que hay en la psicología de las migraciones de realizar estudios internacionales e interdisciplinares que aborden la complejidad de los múltiples niveles implicados, incluyendo aspectos culturales, políticos, económicos y ambientales (AU)

Migrant workers’ community in China: Relationships among social networks, life satisfaction and political participation / Comunidad de Trabajadores Emigrantes en China: Relaciones entre Redes Sociales, Satisfacción Vital y Participación Política

The millions of persons migrating from China’s rural areas to urban spaces have contributed greatly to the country’s decades-long economic growth, and the influx of migrants has changed the fabric of China’s urban social and economic life. These internal migrants, similar to many international immigrants, depend heavily on their social networks, which are often developed in their rural villages, for jobs, housing, financial assistance, and social support both during and after migration. Consequently, migrants ‘networks function distinctly in well-being and behavior. Using data from the 2006 China General Social Survey, this article seeks to 1) investigate the existence of migrant sub-groups in China, 2) understand the characteristics of social networks among sub-groups, and 3) explore the relationships social networks hold to life satisfaction and political participation among China’s migrant population. This article asserts that China’s migrant population includes several sub-groups emerging on the basis of gender, education, age, and marital status, which in turn produce different patterns of ties and social interactions among their social networks. While this article finds very different employment patterns among migrant sub-groups, migrant networks do not appear to strongly influence perceptions and behaviors, such as life satisfaction and political participation. This article also argues that individual networks could facilitate the development of migrant communities in cities (AU)

Durante décadas, millones de personas han emigrado desde las áreas rurales de China hacia las ciudades, y realizado una importante contribución al desarrollo económico del país, cambiando el tejido social y económico de las ciudades. Estos emigrantes internos, al igual que los inmigrantes internacionales, dependen en gran medida de sus redes sociales para encontrar trabajo, vivienda, asistencia financiera, y apoyo social tanto durante como después de la migración, contribuyendo significativamente a su bienestar. A partir de los datos del Encuesta Social General de China del 2006, este artículo 1) describe los diferentes subgrupos de inmigración en China, 2) analiza las características de sus redes sociales, y 3) explora la contribución de éstas a su participación política y satisfacción vital. Este artículo propone clasificarla población emigrante china en subgrupos por razón de género, educación, edad y estado civil, los cuales producen diferentes patrones de conexiones e interacciones entre sus redes sociales. El presente estudio revela patrones de empleo muy diferenciados entre los distintos subgrupos de emigrantes, en cambio sus redes no parecen tener una importante contribución en sus percepciones y conductas, tales como su satisfacción vital y participación política. Este artículo también plantea que las redes personales podrían facilitar el desarrollo de las comunidades de emigrantes en las ciudades (AU)