Year: 2022

How Is Tobacco Used in the LGBT Community?
How Is Tobacco Used in the LGBT Community?

According to recent research, approximately 3.8 percent of the US population is openly LGBT. While more societies publicly accept LGBT people, they continue to confront numerous challenges.
The high smoking rate is one of the difficulties they face. According to studies, LGBT people smoke at considerably greater rates than straight adults. They are roughly twice as likely to engage in tobacco-related activities such as vaping.
To delve deeper into the topic, we will discuss why and how tobacco businesses abuse the LGBT community and other difficulties that…

Meeting LGBT Students’ Challenges
Meeting LGBT Students’ Challenges

Having come out as gay in my teens, I sought to learn as much as I could from the available literature about sexual orientation and how it relates to identity development. The chance to pursue a career in psychology, one which would allow me to work with LGBT people and influence social thought on these issues, was too exciting to pass up. Like many of my lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT)-and probably heterosexual colleagues at graduate school, my motivation to study psychology is largely personal.
LGBT graduate students who choose to pursue LGBT-…

Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation
Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

Some children and adolescents are aware of their attraction to members of the same gender by early adolescence, but awareness varies by culture and acculturation. Sexual orientation and gender identity are separate aspects of one’s experience; both may be fluid or complex. Some children and adolescents may spend a long time figuring out their sexual orientation or identity before feeling secure in it. Resources and supportive adults are scarce for children who identify as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, or questioning); peer support is limited in rural areas and small towns.

Answers to Your Questions About Same-Sex Marriage
Answers to Your Questions About Same-Sex Marriage

Legal recognition of a committed relationship through marriage provides economic, social, and health benefits to gay and lesbian couples. This legal recognition can also benefit gay and lesbian family members, friends of the couple, children who gay or lesbian parents might adopt in the future, and society at large.
Are heterosexual and same-sex marriages different?
Many lesbians, gays, and bisexuals desire lifelong partnerships. They form committed relationships, and many have been together ten or more years—an amount of time that is …

Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity in Children and Adolescents in Schools
Gender and Sexual Orientation Diversity in Children and Adolescents in Schools

In August of 2014, the American Psychological Association, or APA as it is more commonly known, passed a resolution about the importance of gender and sexual orientation diversity in schools. The resolution called for schools to be safe places for all students and offered practical advice for those working with children.
Limitation of Language and its Definitions
Resolution drafters wanted to express their current definitions of terms related to gender and sexuality. The list below has been utilized in the drafting of the resolution.

Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth
Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth

Sexual Orientation: How is it Developed?
Sexual orientation refers to an individual’s emotional and sexual attraction to other individuals. While this attraction may extend along a continuum, it is most frequently discussed as falling into three categories: heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality. Like many human behaviors, sexual orientation is influenced by various biological and psychosocial factors, such as evolutionary predispositions and early experiences, but it is generally not determined by any one factor. The timing of its emergence in everyone varies.

Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality
Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality

The American Psychological Association recommends that psychologists help reduce the stigma of mental illness through the education of others about how long-held beliefs and fears about sexual orientation have led to prejudice and discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
What is sexual orientation?
Sexual orientation is the personal sense of identity and attraction that a person feels toward the same and/or opposite sex members. Recent studies have shown sexual orientation to be fluid (not fixed), with the strength of attractions …

Transgender People, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression
Transgender People, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression

What is transgender?
Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity, expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. The American Psychological Association’s Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity are undertaking a systematic review of its use along with other terms related to transgender. In this document, “transgender” is used to replace the outdated term “transsexual.”
The terms “transgender” and “trans…

Gay and Bipolar Disorder: What to Know
Gay and Bipolar Disorder: What to Know

Gay people are more likely to experience mental health difficulties. These issues may be exacerbated by stigmatization, prejudice, and discrimination.
What is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder is diagnosed when a person experiences periods of extreme mood swings. This disorder can cause sad, hopeless, or irritable moods and grandiose behavior in people who are manic—they may go on spending sprees or engage in impulsive sexual behavior. Psychotic behaviors may also occur during acute manic episodes. These symptoms include delusions (false …

LGBTQIA+ Affirmation and Safety: ‘Belonging, like Air, is a Fundamental Human Need.’
LGBTQIA+ Affirmation and Safety: ‘Belonging, like Air, is a Fundamental Human Need.’

For LGBTQIA+ People of Color, feeling safe in their own skin is an ongoing struggle. Dr. Kia Darling-Hammond explains why…
In March 2021, The Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to suicide prevention for LGBTQIA+ youth, published a report estimating that suicide attempts among U.S. LGBTQIA+ youth are one every 45 seconds. The report cited discrimination, lack of proper formal support, and threats to personal safety as factors contributing to the suicide ideation and mental health impacts experienced by LGBTQIA+ young people in the United States….