GSA Advocacy Predicts Reduced Depression Disparities Between LGBQ+ and Heterosexual Youth in Schools.

OBJECTIVE: Depression disparities between heterosexual youth and lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and other non-heterosexual (LGBQ+) youth are robust and linked to discrimination in schools. Advocacy by school-based Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) to raise awareness of LGBQ+ issues and to counteract discrimination may reduce these disparities within schools, yet has not been investigated schoolwide. We considered whether GSA advocacy over the school year moderated sexual orientation differences in depressive symptoms at the school year's end for students in the general school population (i.e., students who were not members of the GSA). METHOD: Participants were 1,362 students (Mage = 15.68; 89% heterosexual; 52.6% female; 72.2% White) in 23 Massachusetts secondary schools with GSAs. Participants reported depressive symptoms at the beginning and end of the school year. Separately, GSA members and advisors reported their GSA's advocacy activities during the school year and other GSA characteristics. RESULTS: LGBQ+ youth reported higher depressive symptoms than heterosexual youth at the school year's beginning. However, after adjusting for initial depressive symptoms and multiple covariates, sexual orientation was a weaker predictor of depressive symptoms at the school year's end for youth in schools whose GSAs engaged in more advocacy. Depression disparities were significant in schools whose GSAs reported lower advocacy, but were statistically non-significant in schools whose GSAs reported higher advocacy. CONCLUSION: Advocacy could be a means by which GSAs achieve school-wide impacts, benefiting LGBQ+ youth who are not GSA members. GSAs may therefore be a key resource for addressing the mental health needs of LGBQ+ youth.

Youth Advocacy Varies in Relation to Adult Advisor Characteristics and Practices in Gender-Sexuality Alliances.

With growing attention to youth's efforts to address sexual and gender diversity issues in Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs), there remains limited research on adult advisors. Do advisor characteristics predict their youth members' advocacy? Among 58 advisors of 38 GSAs, we considered whether advisor attributes predicted greater advocacy by youth in these GSAs (n = 366) over the school year. GSAs varied in youth advocacy over the year. Youth in GSAs whose advisors reported longer years of service, devoted more time to GSA efforts each week, and employed more structure to meetings (to a point, with a curvilinear effect), reported greater relative increases in advocacy over the year (adjusting for initial advocacy and total meetings that year). Relative changes in advocacy were not associated with whether advisors received a stipend, training, or whether GSAs had co-advisors. Continued research should consider how advisors of GSAs and other social justice-oriented groups foster youth advocacy.

Greater Engagement in Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) and GSA Characteristics Predict Youth Empowerment and Reduced Mental Health Concerns.

Extracurricular groups can promote healthy development, yet the literature has given limited attention to indirect associations between extracurricular involvement and mental health or to sexual and gender minority youth. Among 580 youth (Mage  = 15.59, range = 10-20 years) and adult advisors in 38 Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs), multilevel structural equation models showed that greater engagement in GSAs over the school year predicted increased perceived peer validation, self-efficacy to promote social justice, and hope (baseline adjusted). Through increased hope, greater engagement indirectly predicted reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms at the year's end (baseline adjusted). GSAs whose members had more mental health discussions and more meetings reported reduced mental health concerns. Findings suggest how groups addressing issues of equity and justice improve members' health.

Extracurricular Settings as a Space to Address Sociopolitical Crises: The Case of Discussing Immigration in Gender-Sexuality Alliances Following the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.

School-based extracurricular settings could promote dialogue on sociopolitical crises. We considered immigration discussions within Gender-Sexuality Alliances (GSAs), which address multiple systems of oppression. Among 361 youth and 58 advisors in 38 GSAs (19 in 2016-2017/Year 1; 19 in 2017-2018/Year 2), youth in Year 1 reported increased discussions from baseline throughout the remaining school year; differences were non-significant in Year 2. In both years, youth reporting greater self-efficacy to promote social justice, and GSAs with advisors reporting greater self-efficacy to address culture, race, and immigration discussed immigration more over the year (adjusting for baseline). In interviews, 38 youth described circumstances promoting or inhibiting discussions: demographic representation, open climates, critical reflection, fear or consequences of misspeaking, discomfort, agenda restrictions, and advisor roles.