Date of Award
Spring 2024
Thesis Type
Open Access
Degree Name
Honors Bachelor of Arts
Department
Interdisciplinary Studies
Sponsor
Dr. Paul Harris and Dr. Eric Smaw
Committee Member
Dr. Andrew Luchner
Committee Member
Dr. Stacey Dunn
Abstract
The recent wave of anti-LGBTQ+ politics and policies in Florida pose potential risks to the mental health and well-being of Florida’s LGBTQ+ students. The present study surveyed LGBTQ+ students attending private colleges in Florida to measure their self-reported stress levels in comparison to non-LGBTQ+ students, the level at which they believed specific sources of stress contributed to their stress levels, their level of distress upon experiencing discrimination, their sense of sexual identity distress, and their awareness of and involvement in advocacy against Florida’s anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Survey results suggested that anti-LGBTQ+ politics in Florida and the personal lives (social and family life) of LGBTQ+ students contributed most to their overall stress levels. A majority of LGBTQ+ students reported being very aware of and exposed to social media posts about the anti-LGBTQ+ politics in Florida, but most also reported that they were not very involved in advocacy against it. Further analysis suggested that LGBTQ+ students who were more aware of or were actively involved against Florida’s anti-LGBTQ+ politics were also more likely to report politics as a major source of stress. LGBTQ+ students’ overall stress scores were correlated with their scores on a discrimination distress scale; scores on the sexual identity distress scale did not correlate with any other variable. The ethics of Florida’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies, along with the results of the present study, were normatively analyzed using multiple moral and normative frameworks, including multiculturalism, the social ethics of Jane Addams, the LGBTQ+ political theories of Martha Nussbaum, and the capabilities approach.
Recommended Citation
Fortune, Alise, "State Politics and Stress Amongst LGBTQ+ Students at Florida’s Private Colleges: A Psychological and Normative Analysis" (2024). Honors Program Theses. 223.
https://scholarship.rollins.edu/honors/223
Rights Holder
Alise Fortune
Included in
Applied Ethics Commons, Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Community Psychology Commons, Feminist Philosophy Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Health Psychology Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Mental and Social Health Commons, Social Justice Commons, Social Psychology Commons
