About the Role That Young People Can Play in the Fight Against Bullying

Schools continue to be significant sites of victimization for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth. A national study found that most LGBTQ students feel unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation and over one-third (40%) felt unsafe because of their gender identity, and research shows that LGBTQ youth are more likely to drop out or avoid school. Experiences of anti-LGBTQ harassment and bullying can be even more pronounced for students who are open about their minority sexual orientation, and for students who are openly gender non-conforming.

Most LGBTQ students report experiencing harassment or bullying based on their perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

These numbers are notably higher than reports from the general population, where between 20% and one-third of students report experiencing some form of bullying. Bullying has been linked to a number of negative mental health and academic outcomes including fear, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, self-injurious behaviors, suicidal ideation, lower academic performance, school avoidance, and dropping out.

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Critical youth theorists argue that in order to create meaningful change in the lives of marginalized young people, change efforts must be youth-driven and youth-focused. Critical youth theory orients research on youth around the sociopolitical context in which youth live their lives, and youth agency to engage in collective action and create change.

Specifically, critical youth theory points to the variety of ways that youth can engage in resistance, whether it be through individual achievement despite oppressive structures, destructive behaviors avoiding oppressive structures, or empowering themselves and their communities challenging oppressive structures.

Despite the widespread frequency of homophobic bullying in many schools, it is important not to view LGBTQ youth as passive victims of this marginalization or heterosexual youth as passive bystanders or inevitable perpetrators of anti-LGBTQ bullying. Rising attention is being paid to the roles that Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) – student-led, school-based organizations for LGBTQA youth – are playing in building accepting communities and engaging youth in critical conversations with their peers. The findings of critical youth theory and investigations of GSAs provoke questions about the roles that youth can play in anti-bullying efforts. In this study, we focus on student intervention as it fits into a larger framework of multi-level anti-bullying efforts.