Abstract
Sexual and gender minority youth are at risk for negative mental health outcomes, such as depression and suicide, due to stigma. Fortunately, sense of community, connection, and social support can ameliorate these deleterious effects. Youth express that most of their social support comes from peers and in-school organizations, but these sources require in-person interaction. Past research has identified social media sites as virtual and anonymous sources of support for these youth, but the role of YouTube specifically in this process has not been thoroughly explored. This study explores YouTube as a possible virtual source of support for sexual and gender minority youth by examining the ecological comments left on YouTube videos. A qualitative thematic analysis of YouTube comments resulted in six common themes in self-identified adolescents' YouTube comments: sharing, relating, information-seeking, gratitude, realization, and validation. Most commonly, adolescents shared feelings and experiences related to their identity, especially when they could relate to the experiences discussed in the videos. These young people also used their comments to ask for identity-related advice or information, treating the platform as a source of education. Results suggest that sexual minority youth's use of YouTube can be advantageous for social support and community, identity-related information, identity development, and overall well-being.
Highlights
Sexual and gender minority individuals are “individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, transgender, two-spirit, queer, and/or intersex. . . or who do not self-identify with one of these terms but whose sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or reproductive development is characterized by non-binary constructs of sexual orientation, gender, and/or sex” (NOT-O-19-139: Sexual Gender Minority Populations in NI-Supported Research., 2019)
Many sexual and gender minority youth express that the anonymity that some social media sites allow is a key factor in being able to explore and experience their identities (Fox and Ralston, 2016)
The first author did not choose videos based on their position in search results, but rather sifted through the results in order to create a sample of videos with a variety of sexual and gender minority-related topics
Summary
Sexual and gender minority individuals are “individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, transgender, two-spirit, queer, and/or intersex. . . or who do not self-identify with one of these terms but whose sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or reproductive development is characterized by non-binary constructs of sexual orientation, gender, and/or sex” (NOT-O-19-139: Sexual Gender Minority Populations in NI-Supported Research., 2019). Research has shown that sexual and gender minority individuals sometimes turn to social media sites like Facebook to form relationships and community with those with common experiences, especially if they cannot find or access that type of support in person (Porta et al, 2017). Many sexual and gender minority youth express that the anonymity that some social media sites allow is a key factor in being able to explore and experience their identities (Fox and Ralston, 2016). They are able to detach from their offline lives and remove the risk of being exposed to their family and friends. This analysis can provide a foundation for future research that examines the generalizability of the findings through a quantitative research design
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