Educational attainment and sexual orientation in adolescent and young adult males

Citation

McQuillan, Mollie T. (2017). Educational attainment and sexual orientation in adolescent and young adult males. In Claster, Patricia Neff Blair Sampson Lee Bass Loretta E. (Ed.), Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Among Contemporary Youth: Generation sex (pp. 121-152). Bingley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing Limited.

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to examine the robustness of the findings on educational advantage among sexual minority men. Methodology/approach: Using nationally representative data (AddHealth) and controlling for other predictors of academic attainment, we examine the educational attainment of sexual minority males by using hierarchical regression and logistical regression for two measures of sexual identity. Findings: We find robust differences in educational attainment across analyses and sexual orientation constructs. Our results show sexual minority identity predicts up to a year more of education for male respondents and consistently reporting male homosexuals have an even greater advantage, more than one and a half years, compared to inconsistent responders. Originality/value: Our results extend previous research on educational outcomes for nonheterosexual adolescents, suggesting there are sustained differences in long-term educational outcomes for nonheterosexual adults and supporting earlier analyses of the AddHealth survey data. This study contributes to the existing literature by examining educational attainment as measured by continuous years and cut-points, using two measures of sexual orientation, providing estimates for all Wave 4 sexual minority identities (i.e., not collapsing any sexual minority category), and controlling for adolescent school geography and type. Moreover, we find early identification of sexual orientation and stability of sexual orientation may be an important source of variation in identifying LGBTQ adolescents who are at greater academic risk or who may benefit from increased social support.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1108%2FS1537-466120170000023007

Reference Type

Book Chapter

Book Title

Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Among Contemporary Youth: Generation sex

Series Title

Sociological Studies of Children and Youth

Author(s)

McQuillan, Mollie T.

Editor(s)

Claster, Patricia Neff Blair Sampson Lee Bass Loretta E.

Year Published

2017

Pages

121-152

Publisher

Emerald Publishing Limited

City of Publication

Bingley, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

DOI

10.1108/S1537-466120170000023007

Reference ID

7589