Social Support and LGBTQ+ Individuals and Communities
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Date
2021
Authors
Humble, Áine
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Abstract
Social support is an important resource that can help reduce stressful situations or buffer
the impact of stressful situations for LGBTQ+ individuals. Many different definitions of social
support exist, but researchers often focus on emotional, informational, or practical support
provided to a person. Social support is communicated by people close to a person as well
through institutional practices and policies and in communities. General trends around the world
show increasing support for sexual-minority individuals—and to a lesser extent gender-minority
individuals—but there are many countries still hostile to LGBTQ+ individuals. A number of
individual-level and country-level variables are related to positive attitudes toward LGBTQ+
individuals.
Social support is operationalized in many ways in quantitative research on LGBTQ+
individuals, usually used as a predictor of health outcomes. Some quantitative measures look at
general social support, whereas others study social support within particular settings, or very
specific ways in which support is communicated. Measures of social support specific to
LGBTQ+ populations have been developed, such as The Gay and Lesbian Acceptance and
Support Index. Research also looks at support at the community level—the broader community
(often referred to as community climate) as well as LGBTQ+ community. Qualitative research is
valuable for exploring what social support means to various groups and for understanding how
different social identities interact with each other.
Many factors influence expectations and experiences of social support; thus, research
should be contextualized. Rather than studying LGBTQ+ as a group, subgroups can be studied,
along with intersectional research. When this is carried out, unique findings can appear. For
example, lesbians in adulthood can include ex-partners and ex-lovers in their social support
networks, and Black lesbian parents describe complex ways in which they interact with their
families and religious communities. Different life course changes such as same-sex marriage and
LGBTQ+ parenting provide opportunities to explore if and how social support is communicated
to LGBTQ+ individuals. Who support is received from is also a key area of interest—families of
origin, chosen families, friends, work colleagues, LGBTQ+ communities and broader
communities, and so on. Later-life circumstances of LGBTQ+ individuals also need focus, as
these individuals often have smaller social support networks due to lifetime discrimination and
cumulative life course experiences. Political situations involving elevated anti-gay rhetoric are
also relevant contexts in which to study how social support can ameliorate minority stress.
Research is starting to look at social support in formal organizations, many of which have
developed guidelines for developing inclusive environments for sexual- and gender-minority
groups.
Description
Keywords
Community climate , Family acceptance , Formal support , Informal support , Intersectionality , LGBTQ+ , LGBTQ+ communities , Life course , Minority stress , Social support
Citation
Humble, A. M. (2021). Social support and LGBTQ+ individuals and communities. In I. N. West (Ed.), Encyclopedia of queer studies and communication. Oxford University Press.