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The Impact of High School Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Support Services on the Attitudes of College Students in Their First Two Years

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Date Issued:
2007
Summary:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible long-term effect of belonging to a high school Gay-Straight Alliance or similar support group. Specific focus was placed on college student attitudes in terms of personal, social, and academic functions. Secondarily, participant demographic and academic characteristics were examined for a possible moderating effect on their attitudes with regard to the same functions. To assess the perceived maturity of each participant, each student was given Russell Cassel 's Ego Development Scale (EDS), a 60-item questionnaire used to ascertain the degree to which individuals function in personal, social, and academic settings. The focus of this research was to test the following condensed hypotheses: With regard to personal, social, or academic issues, there is no relationship between belonging to a high school Gay-Straight Alliance or similar support group and the self-perception of maturity or ego development. In order to test the hypotheses, a test comparing the means achieved by the two groups (involved versus not-involved) on each of the subtests (personal, social, and academic) was conducted. Additionally, a general linear model was used to discover ifthe demographic or academic characteristics of participants played a moderating effect on the outcome oftheir scores on the subtests of the EDS. The findings indicated a connection between high school support participation and a high social subscore, or high social maturity. While the mean score achieved by the involved group was higher than the mean score achieved by the not-involved group in both the personal and educational subtests as well, those connections were not found to be statistically significant. Secondarily, while many of the demographic variables tested did not prove to have a significant effect on the personal, social, or educational subscores, some interesting themes emerged. These include a noted disordinal interaction between year in school and the differences found in mean subscores between participants versus non-participants. Recommendations for future research are offered, including providing the participants a more personal forum for sharing their views with regard to how high school support changes student attitudes.
Title: The Impact of High School Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Support Services on the Attitudes of College Students in Their First Two Years.
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Name(s): Tamayo, Marlene, author
Townsend, Tony, Thesis advisor
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: 2007
Date Issued: 2007
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 124 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible long-term effect of belonging to a high school Gay-Straight Alliance or similar support group. Specific focus was placed on college student attitudes in terms of personal, social, and academic functions. Secondarily, participant demographic and academic characteristics were examined for a possible moderating effect on their attitudes with regard to the same functions. To assess the perceived maturity of each participant, each student was given Russell Cassel 's Ego Development Scale (EDS), a 60-item questionnaire used to ascertain the degree to which individuals function in personal, social, and academic settings. The focus of this research was to test the following condensed hypotheses: With regard to personal, social, or academic issues, there is no relationship between belonging to a high school Gay-Straight Alliance or similar support group and the self-perception of maturity or ego development. In order to test the hypotheses, a test comparing the means achieved by the two groups (involved versus not-involved) on each of the subtests (personal, social, and academic) was conducted. Additionally, a general linear model was used to discover ifthe demographic or academic characteristics of participants played a moderating effect on the outcome oftheir scores on the subtests of the EDS. The findings indicated a connection between high school support participation and a high social subscore, or high social maturity. While the mean score achieved by the involved group was higher than the mean score achieved by the not-involved group in both the personal and educational subtests as well, those connections were not found to be statistically significant. Secondarily, while many of the demographic variables tested did not prove to have a significant effect on the personal, social, or educational subscores, some interesting themes emerged. These include a noted disordinal interaction between year in school and the differences found in mean subscores between participants versus non-participants. Recommendations for future research are offered, including providing the participants a more personal forum for sharing their views with regard to how high school support changes student attitudes.
Identifier: FA00000712 (IID)
Note(s): Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2007.
Subject(s): Self-help groups--United States
Gay high school students--Societies, etc
Sexual minority students--Societies, etc
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Sublocation: Digital Library
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00000712
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Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.