Coming Out (or not) on College Applications: Institutional and Interpersonal Dimensions of Disclosing LGBQ+ Identities
Many college campuses recently began asking undergraduate applicants about their sexual identities on their college applications. How do applicants who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and otherwise on the queer spectrum (LGBQ+) experience this question, and what factors influence how they respond? The a...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Socius |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211054641 |
| _version_ | 1818739264352944128 |
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| author | Nella Van Dyke Natasha Hagaman Irenee R. Beattie Hala Alnagar |
| author_facet | Nella Van Dyke Natasha Hagaman Irenee R. Beattie Hala Alnagar |
| author_sort | Nella Van Dyke |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Many college campuses recently began asking undergraduate applicants about their sexual identities on their college applications. How do applicants who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and otherwise on the queer spectrum (LGBQ+) experience this question, and what factors influence how they respond? The authors use focus group and interview data with 60 LGBQ+ undergraduate students attending two college campuses to explore these questions. Although many students were comfortable with coming out, they described evaluating the potential risks and benefits of disclosure, and some lacked trust in the institution and were concerned about loss of information control. Unlike when coming out in other institutions, many expressed serious concerns about how the information might get back to their parents. Such spillover effects from institutional disclosure have not been previously identified in the literature. These concerns were heightened for students of color. The present results extend theoretical understandings of coming out and offer valuable insights to college administrators. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T01:22:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d8d4f42e8c834223885be3eb6e5815b2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2378-0231 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T01:22:04Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Socius |
| spelling | doaj.art-d8d4f42e8c834223885be3eb6e5815b22022-12-21T21:25:48ZengSAGE PublishingSocius2378-02312021-11-01710.1177/23780231211054641Coming Out (or not) on College Applications: Institutional and Interpersonal Dimensions of Disclosing LGBQ+ IdentitiesNella Van Dyke0Natasha Hagaman1Irenee R. Beattie2Hala Alnagar3University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, USAUniversity of California, Merced, Merced, CA, USAUniversity of California, Merced, Merced, CA, USAUniversity of California, Merced, Merced, CA, USAMany college campuses recently began asking undergraduate applicants about their sexual identities on their college applications. How do applicants who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and otherwise on the queer spectrum (LGBQ+) experience this question, and what factors influence how they respond? The authors use focus group and interview data with 60 LGBQ+ undergraduate students attending two college campuses to explore these questions. Although many students were comfortable with coming out, they described evaluating the potential risks and benefits of disclosure, and some lacked trust in the institution and were concerned about loss of information control. Unlike when coming out in other institutions, many expressed serious concerns about how the information might get back to their parents. Such spillover effects from institutional disclosure have not been previously identified in the literature. These concerns were heightened for students of color. The present results extend theoretical understandings of coming out and offer valuable insights to college administrators.https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211054641 |
| spellingShingle | Nella Van Dyke Natasha Hagaman Irenee R. Beattie Hala Alnagar Coming Out (or not) on College Applications: Institutional and Interpersonal Dimensions of Disclosing LGBQ+ Identities Socius |
| title | Coming Out (or not) on College Applications: Institutional and Interpersonal Dimensions of Disclosing LGBQ+ Identities |
| title_full | Coming Out (or not) on College Applications: Institutional and Interpersonal Dimensions of Disclosing LGBQ+ Identities |
| title_fullStr | Coming Out (or not) on College Applications: Institutional and Interpersonal Dimensions of Disclosing LGBQ+ Identities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coming Out (or not) on College Applications: Institutional and Interpersonal Dimensions of Disclosing LGBQ+ Identities |
| title_short | Coming Out (or not) on College Applications: Institutional and Interpersonal Dimensions of Disclosing LGBQ+ Identities |
| title_sort | coming out or not on college applications institutional and interpersonal dimensions of disclosing lgbq identities |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/23780231211054641 |
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